Cosplay Husband
by Self-Aware-Anime-Protagonist
Summary: Now that Armin Arlert is in college, he left his high school friends behind. He doesn't know anyone at his new college and has a difficult time making friends. Before they went their separate ways, Armin's friends told him to use his love of cosplay to make new friends. Armin always wanted someone to go to pop culture conventions and cosplay with. He wanted a cosplay husband.
1. A Pathetic Way to Make Friends

ARMIN: This wanted poster had to be the stupidest idea ever.

And yet...it might be stupid enough to work.

I finished stapling it to the corkboard covered in flyers for different clubs. It read: "WANTED: A FRIEND TO GO TO POP CULTURE CONVENTIONS AND COSPLAY WITH. ONE TIME CHANCE. CALL OR TEXT THIS NUMBER FOR DETAILS, OR FIND ME IN DORM BUILDING A, ROOM 332."

I knew that if my old friends Isabel Magnolia and Farlan Church were here, they would be laughing their asses off. Yes, their dork friend actually needed to put up a "Wanted" poster to make friends. What a loser I am.

I gathered up the rest of the posters and walked off, looking for other places to post them.

* * *

EREN: Jean slapped me on the back roughly. "Hey, quit it, Horse Face!" I protested.

"Come on, Eren, don't you think you should try to forget about Mikasa and hit on some other girls now that you're free?" Jean pestered me, and I wanted to punch him.

Despite the fact Mikasa and I had broken up a month before graduation, my heart still kinda hurt over her. She _had_ been my childhood friend and my only girlfriend in high school.

"Of all the people who enrolled into Stohess University, I can't believe I got stuck with _you_." I gritted my teeth.

"Ah, you see? Doesn't wanting to beat the shit out of me make you feel better already?" Jean punched me in the arm.

"The only way it'll make me feel better is actually getting to beat the shit out of you." I crossed my arms.

"Hey hey, look at this," Jean spotted something tacked up on the corkboard.

"What, you wanna join the cheerleading squad? You'd look great in a skirt." I told him.

"Shut up, Jäeger," Jean said, pointing to a plain white poster. "Look here; _Wanted: A friend to go to pop culture conventions and cosplay with. One time chance. Call or text this number for details, or find me in dorm building A, room 332. Cosplay_ , like the kind they do in porn." Jean said.

"Well you'd know, wouldn't you?" I replied flatly.

"This sounds pretty pathetic, but pretty hot," he hinted.

"So?"

"So, you should call the number. Or at least meet the person. Who knows? Maybe it'll be a hot chick who wants you to dress up as a teacher and fuck her." Jean encouraged.

"That's stupid; I bet this is a joke. No one's that desperate to put up a 'Wanted' poster to make friends." I shook my head.

"Well, why don't you see for yourself?"

Frustrated and desperate to get the hell away from this asshole, I ripped down the poster and took it with me.

* * *

 _Stupid Jean, what does he know anyway? This is probably just a joke. I don't even have to do this. This is just a dumb trick set up by a really pathetic person._

Very soon I realized that dorm building A wasn't even one of the female dorm buildings; it was a male dorm building. So this was some pathetic guy; it probably was a trick.

But I still followed the map to the third floor and down to room 332.

The door was closed, so I knocked. As soon as my hand touched the door, it creaked open.

I poked my head inside, and I saw the back of a very thin-looking person with blond hair cut chin-length. Maybe this was a girl's dorm...? The person was fiddling around with stuff, unpacking.

"Excuse me...I'm looking for the person who set up that 'wanted' poster." I said.

The person turned around, and I nearly screamed when I realized it _was_ a guy. Just a very thin guy with a shitty haircut.

"Oh, I didn't think anyone would actually take the offer." He said, his voice almost high enough to be a girl's.

"Yeah, look at that..." I muttered.

"I'm Armin Arlert," he said, holding out his hand for me to shake.

"Eren Jäeger," I replied.

"Forgive me for the mess; I haven't quite finished unpacking yet." He said, smiling.

His smile hit me like a semi-truck. Despite this kid's shitty haircut, dumb name, and way too-high voice, his smile was inviting.

"I-it's no problem." I said, clearing my throat. Did I stutter? Whatever, I was just freaked out about this weirdo.

"Just take a seat on the bunk. I guess I can interview you here while I finish unpacking." He said.

I sat down on the creaky bunk.

"So, Eren, have you been to any pop culture conventions before?" He asked, cutting open a cardboard box.

"No, I have no idea what they are. Are the comic conventions and the cosplay thing related?" I asked.

"Yeah, when I go to conventions I usually dress up as one of my favorite fictional characters of that time." Armin explained.

"So...this cosplay...it's not the sexual kind? Because Jean told me that's what it meant." I was kind of embarrassed to ask, but I figured that since I had answered this loser's call I might as well know what I'm getting myself into.

"Wh-what? No, definitely not! I-I'm too shy to wear anything mildly revealing." Armin stammered. He rested some thin booklets on the floor, and that's when I realized they were comic books.

"Hey, I've read that one before," I pointed at one.

"This? I thought I was the only one...it's not very popular." Armin blushed.

"Yeah, I know. What else you got?" I got on my knees to sift through the box with him.

"Umm...don't laugh, but I have some Japanese manga in here. I'm trash." He rubbed the back of his neck, which complimented his smile and hit me with the force of a tank.

I picked one of the manga things up and sifted through it. "It's backwards."

"Yeah, you're supposed to read it that way. If you want to give one a try, I recommend this one." He handed me one called _Menace of the Giants_. "This one is one of my favorites. The concept is pretty cool; giant humanoid giants roam the earth, doing nothing but eating people. And the people who live inside these massive domes are the only members of humanity left. I was going to cosplay one of the characters from this one, but it's really popular and I wanted to be a little unique."

"Hmm..." I mumbled, thumbing through it. "Hey, this guy kinda looks like you."

"Yeah, Marlin Rater. He's the best friend of the main character, Gene Jerere." Armin said.

"So...what convention is coming up and who are you cosplaying?" I asked.

"Oh...I kinda wanted to cosplay this guy," Armin held up a regular book this time. The cover had a blond guy in shiny armor, like a knight's, battling a green dragon. "The book is called _The Ancient Wind_. It's one of those medieval-type stories. This is the main character, Rhys, aka the Third Bastard King."

"And who do you want me to be?" I cringed at the thought.

Armin showed me another book in the series. This one's cover had a redhead guy on it. "Aeron, the Master of Beasts."

I squinted at it. "My hair isn't red."

"It's okay; the cosplay is all on me. All you have to do is wear it and come with me to the conventions." Armin said. "And read the books, I guess. But I think you'll like them, Eren. Hey...I just realized that your name sounds similar to 'Aeron'. I bet you were destined for this!"

At this point, I realized it might be a mistake, but I wasn't gonna back out now. This poor pathetic kid needed me.


	2. The True Measure of a Man

EREN: "So you actually found who wrote the wanted poster? Was it a hot chick? Did you get laid?" Each time Jean opened his mouth I forced myself not to shove something down his throat.

"It was just some nerd who was trying to make friends." I said, leaning against the small desk in our dorm.

"Shit," Jean muttered, "I was kinda hoping it would be a hot girl who was into Cosplay and threesomes."

"Even if it _had_ been a girl, I wouldn't have introduced you," I pointed out.

"Aw man, you can't keep _all_ the hotties to yourself," Jean whined, "first it was Mikasa, and now this. Maybe it's a good thing it turned out to be a guy."

"I told you not to mention her anymore," I insisted.

"Dude, what if he's gay? What if he tries to hit on you?" Jean suggested.

"What difference does that make? He's still a loser. And at least I'd find out if I'm popular with the ladies and the men, unlike you who's popular with no one." I said.

"Oh, I'm so hurt," Jean whined sarcastically. "Tonight at seven there's going to be a welcome party for the freshman. I bet that kid isn't going to go, so you should at least ask him. Maybe you can find out what kind of people he's into and stuff."

"So, basically just be nice and not an asshole like you?"

"Jäeger, I'm trying to be helpful."

"For once..." I scoffed.

"Alright, don't take my advice; just ditch the kid or something." Jean shrugged, standing up to leave.

Out of frustration, I stormed over to the door and trudged down to Armin's room.

He was sitting in a nest of mangas and other comic books when I found him.

"Hey, Armin, are you going to the welcome party tonight?" I asked.

"H-huh? Yeah, sure. I don't really care for parties, but I might miss something important if it's like an orientation." Armin said.

"Okay, cool..." I replied. We stared at each other awkwardly for a little while.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you that the upcoming con is called FantaCon and it's in three weeks. So, I guess you have three weeks to finish the books. There are only three in the series, though, and they're pretty good-well, at least I think so-so you'll probably be able to finish them before the con. But I need to take your measurements for the costume." Armin finally said.

"Oh, yeah...Do you want to take them now?" I asked.

"Sure. I'll be able to get the costume done quicker." Armin said. He rummaged through another box and pulled out a butter cookie tin. He opened up the tin and inside was sewing supplies. He pulled out a measuring tape and stood next to me.

"Uh...do you mind..." He mumbled to the point of inaudibility.

"What?" I asked.

"...taking off your clothes so I can get your measurements?" He finished hurriedly.

"Uhh..." My mind went blank. I literally just met this guy less than an hour ago and now he was asking me to take off my clothes?

"I-if you don't want to you don't have to!" He insisted hurriedly.

"N-no, it's not a big deal. I'm your Cosplay partner now, so I have to." I told him.

Shakily, I took off my shirt so he could take my chest measurements. It might have been my imagination, but his touch seemed to linger on my skin.

"Um, legs too, if you don't mind." He added.

I unbuckled my belt and slid my jeans off. I gulped. I might've been in my boxers but I felt completely naked in front of this kid.

He was on his knees, taking the measurements of my thighs. His face was really close to _certain_ places.

I heard footsteps in the hall, and I realized I hadn't closed the door. They stopped directly in front of this room.

"Jäeger, you getting some finally?" A familiar voice called out.

I froze. God fucking dammit.

"Kirstchien, it's not what it looks like. Get the hell out of here." I demanded through gritted teeth.

Armin stood up. "Yeah, I was just taking his measurements for his costume."

"Wow Jäeger, you're really milking this one, aren't you? Good luck." Jean's footsteps started up again when they stopped and I heard two voices go, "Oomf".

"Hey, watch where you're going!" Jean said.

"Sorry," the other voice replied.

Yanking my pants up, I turned to face a tall guy with black hair and a sprinkling of freckles across his cheeks.

"Hey Armin, who's the hottie? Trying to replace me already and take him for yourself?" The guy smirked.

"Oh, Eren, this is my roommate Marco Bodt." Armin said, rolling up his measuring tape.

"Marco Bodt, flaming homosexual for pay. Actually, I'm a flaming homosexual for free, but if you pay me it's not like I'm gonna turn you down." He said, holding out his hand to shake.

I took it. "That guy you bumped into is my roommate Jean Asshole-I mean Kirstchien."

Marco glanced at him. Jean was glaring at me, but his gaze often switched to Marco.

"Uh, Eren, I'll just get the rest of your measurements another time. Here are the books. I'll see you at the party." Armin said, shoving the books into my arms and shoving me out the door.

"Hey wait, I forgot my shirt," I added.

"Keep it," I heard Marco tell Armin.

Armin opened the door barely wide enough to throw the shirt through.

"Well that was weird," I said.

Jean muttered a gay slur, and I kicked him. "That guy seemed nice."

"Whatever. I'm going out to see if there are any cute girls on campus." Jean muttered.

I decided I might as well hang out in the dorm and wait for the party to start.

* * *

 **A/N:** Okay normally I don't write author's notes but I wanted to point out that this chapter was originally called "The True Measure of a Man is His Ability to Strip in Front of a Stranger" but the title was too long...ah well. At least there was some ambiguity in the title.


	3. Orientation on More Than One Level

ARMIN: "Did you mention it to him yet?" Marco asked immediately after I locked the door.

"I guess I'll tell him at the party," I shrugged. "I'm not as open about my sexuality as you are."

"Clearly," Marco said, brushing off his rainbow shirt.

"Did you really think Eren was hot?"

"Yeah, and so was his jerky friend. I have a weakness for assholes-in more than one way." Marco winked at me.

"Oh my God," I muttered.

* * *

Marco and I made our way to the courtyard between the male and female dorms where the party was being held.

"I'm gonna go mingle," Marco said.

"Wait, don't lea-never mind," I sighed.

I glanced around at the other freshmen around me. I caught a group of girls looking at me, only one of them looking at me with a smile on her face.

She approached me. The girl had long blond hair and blue eyes. She could've almost been my sister or my cousin.

"I'm Historia Reiss," she said, holding out her hand to shake.

I shook her hand. "A-Armin Arlert." I realized I had stammered and I blushed.

"It's nice to meet you Armin," she said, "so, what do you think you're going to major in?"

"I might be an art major, but my late parents wanted me to be an engineer." I said.

"Oh...I'm sure they'll be proud of you either way." Historia smiled.

"Th-thanks," I blushed. This girl was kind of cute, but I had seen her holding hands with one of the other girls in the group.

"Anyway, I'll see you around sometime." She said.

"You too," I agreed. I parted with her awkwardly.

I was staring at my feet when I nudged someone. I looked up; it was Eren.

"Oh, there you are," I sighed.

"Yeah, I just got here. Jean was taking forever to get ready; I swear to God that fucking narcissistic prick is gonna be the death of me..." Eren scratched the back of his head. "Anyway, wanna go grab something to eat and find somewhere to sit down?"

"Sure," I shrugged, following him over to the snack table.

I picked up a chocolate chip cookie and nibbled on it nervously. Eren grabbed a cup of lemonade. He gestured over to a fountain in the center of the courtyard. I tailed after him again and we sat down next to each other.

"So...what's your major?" I asked after what seemed like an eternity of silence.

"I don't know yet; my dad said there's not much I'm good at besides fucking up," Eren shrugged.

"Really? Your dad said that?" I stared in disbelief.

"Yep; last thing he said before I left for college. Right now I'm just enjoying the freedom from him." He took a sip of his lemonade.

I furrowed my brows. "Wow...I can't even imagine if my parents said something like that. They were really doting over me, though, so it's like they never wanted me to leave them."

"'Were'?" Eren inquired.

"Oh...they died when I was twelve. I live with my grandpa now." I explained.

"I'm sorry..." Eren mumbled.

I shrugged. "They wanted me to be an engineer, but I'm taking an art class and I kind of want to be an art major."

"That's cool," he said a little hurriedly, like he was eager to change the subject.

"Did you have any friends in high school? I mean, what were your friends like?" I didn't want to make it sound like I didn't believe he had friends.

"Oh, I didn't have a lot of friends in high school. I just had a girlfriend named Mikasa." He said.

"Do you have a picture of her?" I wondered out loud.

Eren snorted. "It would be weirder if I _didn't_ have a picture of her."

He took out his phone and went to his camera roll. There was an entire album called "Mikasa Loves Eren".

She was this really pretty Asian girl with short black hair and cold-looking eyes. A lot of the pictures were of her wearing the color red in some form: lipstick, a scarf, a dress...and some with lacy lingerie.

I blushed. "Should I be seeing those?"

"She told me one time that I could show anybody as long as I made it clear that she was my girlfriend alone." Eren said. "I broke up with her before graduation. I figured a long-distance relationship would be too difficult since she's attending Harvard University. But she was also kinda psycho."

"I see..." I furrowed my brows again. She was really pretty, but I wondered what kind of things she had done to Eren.

"Anyway, did you have a girlfriend in high school?" Eren asked, shutting off his phone.

"I was friends with a girl named Isabel Magnolia, but she was dating my other friend Farlan Church." I took out my phone and showed him my background: a picture of the three of us at graduation. "Believe it or not, Isabel was the one who told me to try to make friends with my love for Cosplay. They used to go to all the conventions and Cosplay with me."

"Oh...well, I guess your slightly-pathetic plan worked." Eren shrugged.

"You mean...you already consider yourself my friend?" My eyes widened and I stared right into his gorgeous green ones.

"Yeah," Eren said, "I don't see why I wouldn't."

I was so surprised I lost my balance on the edge of the fountain and fell in backward.

"Armin, are you okay?" Eren demanded.

"I'm okay. Is my phone all wet?" I asked, feeling stupid that I cared more about my phone than myself.

"No it looks fine." Eren picked it up and put it in his pocket. "I'll give it back when we get to your dorm."

"Okay." I agreed. "Thanks."

Eren held his hand out for me to grab.

"Hey Armin, looks like you're already all wet for Eren!" Marco shouted from across the courtyard.

My face reddened and felt like it was burning the water away.

Eren pulled me out of the water and I awkwardly clambered out. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around me. I stared at him. Why was he treating me the way a boy would treat his girlfriend in a romance novel? This seemed so cliché it didn't even seem real.

I held the jacket around my thin shoulders as I trudged back to the dorm with him.

* * *

The dorms weren't air-conditioned but the windows were open and the cold air was making me shiver.

"Hey, Armin?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Are you into guys?"

I stopped dead in my tracks. What was I going to say? Should I reply with a sarcastic quip? Do I answer honestly?

"Uh...sometimes," I admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"I-I'm pansexual," I replied, feeling my stomach turning. The first people I had told was my parents. They were understanding enough, but my stomach had been writhing as the words came out. The same thing happened when I told my grandpa, who was also supportive.

"So...you like pans?" Eren squinted.

"No, it means I like everyone. Or, I'm capable of liking anyone. I've had crushes on boys and girls, and a few kids who didn't identify with an assigned gender. Isabel always made the joke that 'no one was safe around me'." I explained.

"Oh...okay."

"You're okay with that? Cuz, a lot of people always assume I'll fall in love with them and they get really uncomfortable..." I looked away from him.

"Yeah, it's fine with me. Actually, I wouldn't mind if you liked me; I could prove to Jean that I'm popular with boys and girls. He's too much of an asshole to be popular with anyone." Eren said.

"Oh. Marco said he had a thing for assholes, but Marco is also gay so he likes assholes in more ways than one," I said. I can't believe I said that...

Eren laughed. "Sorry about what happened earlier."

"I-it's okay. After I'm done changing, I can finish taking your measurements if you want me to." I said.

"Sure," Eren smirked, ruffling my hair.


	4. Coconut Head the Ultra-Klutz

ARMIN: When we arrived at my dorm, I unlocked the door and found a towel to take to the bathroom. "I'll be back." I told Eren. "Don't go through my stuff...please."

"I won't." He said. He placed my phone on my desk.

I hurried down to the bathroom to dry off.

* * *

I came out of the bathroom with only the towel wrapped around my thin hips. I can't believe I forgot to bring some clothes down to the bathroom with me.

And worse, Eren was still in my dorm.

On the way back, my heart pounded. What if Marco comes back and sees that I'm only wearing a towel? Would he make another stupid comment about me banging Eren or something? I didn't want to find out.

I knocked on my dorm. "Eren, it's me. C-can you close your eyes or something until I tell you to open them?"

"Sure." Eren opened the door, and his eyes were shut.

"I'll only take a minute." I said, making a beeline for my box full of clothes and rummaging around for my pajamas. Why did it seem impossible to find them?

I finally found the blue pajama pants and an old t-shirt featuring an anime I hadn't seen since junior year, and a pair of white boxers.

"Keep your eyes shut." I told Eren.

"Uh...okay." He mumbled.

I slipped the shirt over my head, but somehow I managed to get stuck in it. Trying to free myself, I tripped over a box and my towel fell off, exposing me. I fell on my bony ass, making a loud thud.

"Are you okay?" Eren asked.

"Don't look!" I insisted, grabbing my towel and covering myself with it.

I quickly slipped my boxers on, but I realized they were on backwards now. Goddammit. I took them off and put them back on again. I hurriedly put on my pajama pants.

"Okay, you can look now." I said.

Eren turned around. "Uh...I might have peeked just to see if you were okay..." The tips of his ears turned pink.

My face burned. "H-how much did you see?!"

"Not much..." He bit the inside of his cheek.

"Eren, you're a terrible liar; I can tell you're lying." I said, standing up.

"Okay...I might've seen your dick. But I closed my eyes so quickly I'm not even sure!" Eren admitted.

"Oh..." My face burned hotter, and my ears felt warm. "Anyway...let me take your measurements now."

"Sure. Do I need to take my pants off again?" Eren asked.

"Yeah, it would help." I said.

Eren unzipped and unbuttoned his pants and slid them down. I found my measuring tape and wrapped it around his thighs. His really nice, muscular thighs...

My face was really close to his crotch. He said he had maybe seen my dick, and I ever so slightly wondered what his looked like...

I scolded myself for thinking so lewdly. He wasn't my boyfriend or anything, just my Cosplay partner and my friend. That's all. Besides, he had had a girlfriend before so he was probably straight.

I finished taking his leg measurements and I wrote them down. "Okay, you're all set."

"Thanks." Eren pulled his pants back up. "Wanna go back to the party?"

"No...I don't need to humiliate myself worse before school even starts." I said.

"Then if you're not going, I don't have a reason to go back." Eren said.

I furrowed my brows. "Uh...but don't you want to make some other friends besides me?"

"I don't really need a lot of friends." Eren shrugged.

"What about a potential girlfriend?" I asked.

Eren shrugged again. "I miss Mikasa a little too much to look for a girlfriend."

"Hmm..." I sat down on my bed. He sat down next to me. "What do you wanna do then?"

"I guess I should be reading those books you lent me, but I left them in my dorm." Eren said.

"I have them on my Kindle..." I said, taking it out from underneath my bed.

"Will you read it to me? Not that I can't read, I'm just lazy." Eren said.

"Huh? Oh...sure." I tapped on the icon and turned to the beginning.

* * *

I was so absorbed into reading the book to Eren, I hadn't noticed he'd fallen asleep. I smiled, but I also realized I'd have to wake him up and tell him to go back to his dorm.

I gazed upon his sleeping form. He really wasn't that bad-looking. His green eyes, now shut of course, were gorgeous when they were open. His breathing was steady and he sometimes made a little noise when he breathed out.

My face got close to his, watching him intently. _Armin don't be creepy,_ I thought.

Suddenly, Eren's eyes snapped open and he jerked awake. "Hwat? What is it?"

"You fell asleep in my bed." I said.

"What time is it?" He groaned.

"Uhh...nine forty-two. The party ends at ten." I said.

Eren sat up abruptly, hitting his head on the top bunk.

"Eren! Are you okay?" I shrieked.

"Yeah...I'm fine." He rubbed his forehead.

"Be careful next time," I said, helping him out of my bed.

Next time? Had I implied that he would fall asleep in my bed again?

He didn't seem to notice my diction as he swung his legs over and stumbled over to the doorway.

"Well...goodnight, Armin." He said.

"Goodnight Eren," I replied.

When he closed the door, I flopped back down on my bed and sighed.

Suddenly the door was thrown open and Marco appeared.

"I'm baaaaaaaack." He sang.

"Great; did you have fun?" I sat up.

"If you count trying to hit on that fly honey from Eren's dorm as fun, then yeah." Marco said. "Seeing you take a dive into the fountain was pretty great."

I blushed. "You didn't have to make such a rude comment."

"But it's true, isn't it? I can tell you're gonna fall for Eren." Marco said.

"What are you, psychic?" I squinted.

"Maybe psycho, but-" Marco's eyes caught something in the room: the towel. He grinned maniacally and picked it up. "Oooooooh, what's _this_?"

"A towel...?" I replied skeptically.

"What'd you use it for?" He winked at me and made a series of sexual gestures.

"I used it to dry off after I fell in the damn fountain; Jesus, Marco, do you have to make every situation sexual?" I snatched the towel away.

"Because I have to. And did you say I'm Jesus? I like that... _Freckled_ Jesus." He mused.

"Go to bed, Freckled Jesus." I muttered.

"Goodnight, Coconut Head."

"Don't you _dare_ make a _Ned's Declassified_ reference."


	5. Good Excuses

ARMIN: "Good morning, class," Professor Zacharius announced.

Like we had been conditioned to do since day one, the art class echoed the morning greeting back to him in monotonous voices. It was now day fifteen.

"As you know we'll be starting our portrait and realism today, which means we'll be bringing in nude models for you to study and sketch. If any of you want to drop out now then go ahead while you still can."

None of us moved.

"Alright brave individuals, let's begin the lesson. Professor Ackerman, you can come in now."

Out from Professor Zacharius's office stepped a man wearing only a towel around his sculpted hips. We were all shocked when we saw how gorgeous our English professor was: even Historia, who had apparently ended up in my art class and was a full-on lesbian, gasped.

Professor Ackerman was a five-foot three ex-marine at the age of thirty-four. Everyone knew he had been in the marines for about twelve years, but none of us would've guessed he still had his marine physique. His gorgeous muscles were like a sculpture from the Italian Renaissance. His tenacious expression made him even hotter-looking than before, in a badass kind of way.

He stepped onto the podium and someone shouted, "Professor Ackerman, get on the podium!"

"I heard that," he hissed.

I figured out the outburst had come from Reiner Braun. His friend Bertoldt nudged him lightly.

"Alright, I'll let you sorry virgins stare at my dick for sixty seconds and then you'll carry on with the lesson." Professor Ackerman said, ripping off the towel.

The room suddenly became an oven. My pencil trembled in my hands. I glanced around me at everyone else. Historia looked slightly repulsed. Reiner looked mesmerized. Bert was sweating more than usual.

The sixty seconds seemed like an eternity staring at that hung piece of flesh. It was way more beautiful and less disgusting than I thought it would be.

"Time's up, brats," Professor Ackerman said.

"Professor Ackerman will demonstrate a standing pose for all of you. I want to see at least an attempt at a full-body sketch. I want to be able to recognize some features other than his penis. You have until the end of class." Professor Zacharius instructed.

I flipped to a clean page of my sketchbook (one that didn't have some Cosplay costume ideas leaking from my other sketchbook) and began sketching an outline of Professor Ackerman's sexy body.

* * *

When class ended, I had sketched a vague outline of Professor Ackerman, dick and all. But instead of Professor Ackerman's face, I had somehow sketched Eren's.

I glanced around to make sure no one had seen and I slammed my sketchbook shut. I hurriedly exited the classroom to find the cheapest place to eat on campus. I saw Marco waving at me through a tiny coffee shop, gesturing for me to hurry inside.

I walked in and the doorbell jingled.

"How was day fifteen of art?" Marco demanded to know.

"Why do you care?" I asked, slinging my backpack over my shoulder.

"Because I know you get to stare at nude models in that class," Marco said, eyeing my sketchbook.

"Well, we _did_ start the realism unit today..." I admitted.

"Oooh, who did you draw?" Marco's hands went for my notebook. I held it out is his reach.

"Professor Ackerman," I said.

"Really? Is he as hung as everyone says he is?" Marco was practically salivating.

"You're nasty. And...I don't know, what do people say?"

"I once heard it was ten inches." Marco winked.

"Ehh, I'm not good at estimating, but I'd say it was about...eight and a half? At the least?" I shrugged.

"Damn..." Marco mused. "I might join that art class for a good excuse to stare at hot dicks."

"Like I said, you're nasty." I sat down in the chair next to him.

The doorbell to the coffee shop jingled again, and Eren walked in. I felt my heart skip like a truck going over a speed bump. "Eren! What are you doing here?"

I figured that was a stupid question the second it left my mouth.

"Hey guys," Eren waved, "I'm here to try to get an on-campus job."

"Hear that? You should come here more often then," Marco whispered once Eren had left to meet the manager, "maybe even work with Eren..."

"I'm not looking for a good excuse to be near him," I said, "but getting a job would be nice. Besides, I need a way to pay for the tickets for FantaCon and costume materials."

"Good thinking," Marco winked.

"Please stop visually assaulting me."


	6. Trigger Warning

EREN: "I'm bored," I said, "I already finished all the books."

I tossed the bouncy ball at the wall and watched it ricochet back to my hand.

"I'm busy sewing right now," Armin said. His lemony hair was tied back into a bun. I wanted to poke it.

"Fine. What's your favorite food?"

"Umm...cookies. Snickerdoodles, mostly, because they have a fun name."

"Favorite music?"

"I'm not really picky about what I listen to."

"Favorite color?"

"Blue or green."

"Favorite place when you were younger?"

"The library."

"Nerd." I scoffed.

"Fine, what about you?"

"I don't have a favorite place."

"Fairi enough." Armin shrugged. "Ask me something more interesting."

"When did you get your first kiss?" I decided.

He stopped pushing the fabric under the sewing machine and turned the machine off. He shifted to face me.

"I was twelve..." He mumbled.

" _Twelve_? I didn't get my first kiss until Mikasa-but, don't tell anyone." I said. I noticed the darkness on his face. "How did you get your first kiss?"

He didn't answer, and he wouldn't meet my eyes. Pieces of hair that had fallen out of his bun framed his face.

"Armin...?"

"My cousin...she said nobody would believe me if I told anyone, but...when I was twelve and she was nineteen, we were at a family reunion when she sexually assaulted me. She said even if I told someone, they wouldn't believe me because boys can't get sexually assaulted." He said, clenching his fist until his knuckles were white.

"Armin..." I mumbled.

"She only touched me, but it still scared me. The room had been the darkest room I'd ever known, and her hands were the dirtiest." He continued. "When it was over, she left with her twenty-four-year old boyfriend and I haven't seen her since."

I admit that I would've immediately believed boys couldn't get raped, but I couldn't look Armin in the eyes and still believe that.

"I don't know how I ended up able to like all genders, since a person of one gender did something so horrible to me. I guess I _do_ lean toward boys more, but that's not the point. I find it hard to believe anyone could like me because she said that I was ugly the entire time, and that the only person who would do anything like that to me was her."

A tiny dark spot appeared on his jeans, and I realized it was a tear that had dropped onto his leg.

"Armin..." I mumbled again, leaning forward and throwing my arms around him. "I'm sorry I asked."

"It's okay. But I hate it that she stole my first kiss." He said, rubbing his eyes.

"She doesn't have to be your first kiss. A first kiss is something that you're supposed to enjoy with someone you like." I said.

"But-"

I grabbed his shoulders and made sure he was looking at me directly.

"If Mikasa taught me anything, it's that virginity is nothing but a concept. I would say the same about kissing: it doesn't count unless you want it to count. And getting your first kiss stolen shouldn't count." I said.

"Eren..." He murmured.

I noticed my gaze darted between his eyes and his lips. He didn't like me that way and vice versa, so I would just end up stealing another kiss from him.

Then, he mumbled something to me. Despite how close we were, I still couldn't hear him, but I knew he had spoken because I saw his lips move slightly.

"What?"

"C-can I kiss you?" His face reddened.

My face also turned red. " _Me_? Why? I'm straight."

"I know, but I'm not. And...I kinda like you. But like, as slightly more than a friend."

"Are you confessing to me?"

"N-not really. Just...it doesn't have to be my first kiss, just a test kiss to see if I'm actually any good." Armin explained.

"Uh...I guess..." I said.

He leaned forward and bumped his lips into mine clumsily.

"Oh...guess I'm not very good." He mumbled.

"No, it's okay. Here, let me..." I cupped his face and tilted it slightly, pressing my lips against his for a few seconds.

When I pulled away, I failed to see what I had done as wrong.

But I assumed we'd never speak of it again.


	7. Jäegerbomb-bastic

EREN: "You did _what_?" Jean repeated, a little louder this time.

"Why does it even fucking matter? It's none of your business, _okay_?" I snapped at him.

Now that I had told Jean, I started to doubt kissing Armin had been a good idea.

"You're fucking gross, kissing a fag like him." Jean said. "You might as well be one, too."

"Don't use that word again, _especially_ not to describe Armin." I said.

"Mikasa sure did you a number, turning you into a little social justice warrior." Jean smirked.

"How is that bad?" I demanded.

"Look, some things won't change. Girls and homos will always be below men, and that's that." Jean decided.

"Why are we even friends? How did I end up being friends with a close-minded asshole like you?"

"Face it, Jäeger, you got nothing if you don't have me."

"I have Armin," I said, "and he's all I need."

"You are a fag just like him," Jean shook his head.

In a fit of rage that almost blinded me, I hastily packed all my stuff back into my boxes.

"Where ya goin', Jäeger?"

"I'm hoping it's not too late to change roommates." I said.

"Good, take your disgusting lifestyle choices with you," Jean muttered.

* * *

"A roommate transfer? What for?" The man at the desk asked me.

"My previous roommate was...doing things that were against my religion." I decided. I wasn't a really religious person, but I decided that would be a pretty good excuse.

The guy stared at me for a while. I had already packed up my stuff, so I desperately hoped he wouldn't send me back. Finally, he shrugged and handed me a slip of paper where my new room was.

"Your roommate is some kid named Conrad Springer, room 324." He said.

"Thanks." I took the slip of paper and went up to meet my new roommate. I realized 324 was in Armin's dorm building, and my heart did a little flip in excitement.

* * *

I knocked on the door holding the slip of paper between my teeth while I balanced all of my bags in my arms.

The inhabitant of the room opened the door and I dropped my bags. I took the paper out of my mouth. "Hey, sorry about the interruption, but I'm your new roommate. I'm Eren Jäeger." I held out my hand for a shake.

"Conrad Springer, but I prefer Connie. Come on in, Eren." He said.

The kid wore a knit beanie over a buzzcut that made his hair look gray, an old-looking sweater, and tattered jeans. His room was a mess, but that didn't really bother me because I'd eventually contribute to the mess.

"So what made you switch roommates, Jäegerbomb-bastic?" Connie asked, reclining on his bunk.

"My roommate was an asshole," I said.

"Was it that Jean Kirschtein kid?"

"How did you know?"

"You said 'asshole', and he's the first person who came to mind." Connie shrugged.

"Well, you were right." I sat down in the desk chair. "So...what kind of classes are you taking?"

"Ehh, mostly getting my core classes out of the way. I'm not real sure what I'm gonna go into, I'm not smart enough for a lot of it."

"Same with me." I shrugged.

"So Eren, it's been about three weeks of school; got your eyes set on anyone special?"

Even though I didn't like-like Armin, I didn't want to mention him in case Connie was as homophobic as Jean.

"Uhh...no one in particular; what about you?"

"There's this girl in my English class, Sasha Braus: smokin' hot, super smart, has the appetite of a bear-which makes her even hotter, if you ask me-but anyway, yeah."

"Hmm...well good luck to you."

"Good luck to you too, Jäeger," Connie nodded. "Of course, if Sasha weren't my main priority, I'd go for that kid in room 332."

"Marco? Or Armin?" My heart raced at the thought of Armin, not that I had had my eyes set on him. And in him admitting that, at least I didn't have to worry about liking Armin. But I didn't like Armin, at least not in that way.

"Armin, I guess. But I don't know who he likes, and I think Sasha is more within reach for me." Connie said.

"Yeah...I hope you find the courage to ask her out."

"Thanks, man. You know, I'm glad I'm finally not alone in here anymore."

"With Jean as my old roommate, I might as well have been alone."

"Well you're not anymore, Jäegerbomb-bastic." Connie stood up and clapped me on the back.

"Thanks, man."


	8. All-Nighters and One-Nighters

ARMIN: To earn money to buy more costume supplies and the tickets to FantaCon, I had taken Marco's advice and applied for a job at the little coffee shop with Eren. So far I had enough to pay for my ticket, and our Cosplay was almost done.

On Sunday mornings at nine o' clock, we met each other there and worked until around eight at night.

Eren hadn't brought up the kiss for a while after it happened. It didn't matter to me, but I wondered if asking for a kiss had been wrong.

One night when we were working a little overtime, I asked him, "Eren, did you mind that I wanted you to kiss me?"

"Huh? Of course I didn't mind." He shrugged.

But what the heck was that supposed to mean? Did that mean he might like me?

"But...did you like it?" My hands were shaking and I was worried I was gonna drop the mug I was washing.

Eren was silent for a moment and I could feel the tension in the air.

"Yeah, I liked it."

I nearly threw the mug. I still didn't know what kind of answer that was.

"But you're straight."

"Doesn't mean I can't enjoy a kiss. A kiss from anyone is nice...well, I mean..." He trailed off, but I understood what he meant.

"Yeah..." I mumbled.

I finished rinsing and drying the mug and I placed it back in the cupboard.

"Good work today boys, see you next week," the manager told us.

"See you too; have a nice evening," Eren replied.

We took off our aprons and hung them on our hooks before we left.

The night was chilly, but my sweatshirt was enough to keep me warm.

"FantaCon is next week," I said. "I only have enough for my ticket, though."

"I've been saving up too, so I can pay for my own." Eren said.

"But part of the deal was that I'd pay for both tickets." I said.

"That's hardly fair, seeing as you're also making both of our costumes."

"I-I guess..."

"And it's also Halloween on Friday."

"Huh? It is?" I took out my phone to check the calendar. "It is...with all this planning for FantaCon, I'd hardly noticed. Did you have any plans?"

"Nah, I was planning for FantaCon like you. But Marco told me that these two sophomores are throwing a party at their frat house on Halloween night, and we're invited as long as we know someone in the house." Eren said.

"Who are they?" I asked, a little curious but not actually curious enough to go. I wasn't a big fan of parties.

"Reiner Braun and Bertoldt Hoover."

"Oh...they're both in my art class."

"Really? Sweet! You could go then!" Eren grabbed my shoulders.

"I-I don't really like parties...unless, do you wanna go with me? I mean, so I'm not alone. I've heard of the stuff that goes on at frat parties."

"You'd really let me come with you?" Eren's eyes were wide.

"Yeah, of course." I said.

"Dude, you're the best!" Eren threw his arms around me and I awkwardly patted his back. I didn't realize he had been so excited about this.

Friday came quicker than I had hoped and I still had to put the finishing touches on our costumes.

"Do you wanna just wear the costumes without the armor? It'll look less cool, but we won't be showing up to the party without costumes." I said. "We can still take the swords."

"Sure, but will they be done by tomorrow?"

"Yeah, it'll be fine." I assured him.

We got dressed and left my dorm ten minutes late to the party.

"Hey, welcome to La Casa of Omega Epsilon!" Reiner announced at the door.

The second I stepped foot into the house I regretted it.

I could feel the bass from the music pounding above my stomach, which made me queasy. The strobe lights flashing were going to give me a seizure. And the people...there were people everywhere. There was barely any walking space. Most of the girls we wearing pieces of fabric they called "Halloween costumes". I wasn't one to judge since a lot of girls showed up to conventions in revealing costumes (as long as they were still within the guidelines of the cons), but being around them still made me uncomfortable.

Eren grabbed my arm and pulled me into the cluster of flesh. I dodged more boobs and butts than I had last Comic Con.

Eren pulled me into the kitchen where Marco was attempting to pole dance on a pillar.

"Marco...what the fuck?" I muttered.

"Glad you could make it, Armin," he blew me a clumsy kiss.

His costume was a rainbow spandex suit so tight that it didn't leave much to the imagination concerning his southern region. He wore thigh-high red go-go boots and matching mask and gloves. On his back was a cape colored like flames.

"Marco...what the fuck?" I mumbled again.

"It is I, the Flaming Homosexual!" Marco kicked his leg up onto the kitchen counter.

"Oh my god..." I slapped my hand over my face.

I glanced over in the corner, seeing Eren's old roommate Jean glaring at Marco. He was dressed as a werewolf with an unbuttoned and tattered plaid shirt and a pair of wolf ears on his head.

"Looks like he's having fun," I muttered to Eren.

"Come on Jean, don't be a buzzkill!" Eren shouted. Jean flipped him off.

"Jean~" Marco sang, "wanna come take shots with me~?"

"In your dreams, you f-" Jean shouted.

"Fantastic hottie, I'm sure!" Marco interrupted. "I bet a boring hetero like you can't take as many shots as I can!"

"You wanna fucking go? Let's do it, right now!" Jean stood up and stormed over to Marco.

"Your move, sweetie." Marco blew him a kiss.

* * *

Watching Marco and Jean take shots was the highlight of my night.

Marco was up to twelve while Jean was choking down an eleventh.

Jean slammed his glass down. "You're so...going...down..."

"On you maybe..." Marco winked clumsily.

Despite their alcohol tolerance being pretty high, whatever they were taking must've been pretty strong.

"I'm gonna need a lot more if you wanna get me in bed." Jean hiccuped.

"Try me, honey." Marco stroked Jean's arm.

They both downed another two shots until Jean dropped onto the table.

"I am the Flaming Homosexual!" Marco whooped, pumping his fist into the air.

"Carry me home..." He murmured.

"Suuuuure, hon," Marco said, getting up on shaky legs. He miraculously helped Jean up and they stumbled out of the kitchen. "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!" Marco announced.

Jean tugged on Marco's cape and they trudged out of the frat house.

"Eren, we should get going if we want to wake up at a good time to go to FantaCon. And I need to finish the costumes." I said.

"Okay," Eren agreed.

We met up with Reiner and thanked him for the party invitations before we left.

* * *

My head nodded forward as I tried to paint our armor with the silver paint.

"Armin, you gotta get to sleep," Eren said, kneeling down by me.

I glanced at the clock: 1:02 AM.

"I gotta finish this..." I murmured.

"No you don't." Eren protested.

"I gotta..." I mumbled, my eyelids drooping.

"No." Eren took the paintbrush out of my hand and dragged me into bed.

"Eren..." I groaned.

"Trust me, buddy, you don't wanna pull an all-nighter." He insisted. "I'm still up so I'll finish them."

"But-"

"Nope."

"Fine...goodnight, Eren."

* * *

My alarm went off at 6:00 AM, jolting me awake. "Ehh? Are they finished?"

I glanced over at the pieces of armor, which looked dried and complete. Eren had rested his head on the desk, sleeping soundly. I guess he had done what he had told me not to do and pulled an all-nighter.

I smiled, going around him to gather fresh underwear and a towel to take a shower.

Suddenly someone started pounding on the door. I opened it, and Marco was standing there still in his Halloween costume. A mysterious yellow stain was on the front and the suit looked like the lower half was peeling off him.

"Guess what Jean and I did last night?" He shouted excitedly.

Eren's head popped up. "Uhh? What is it?"

"What, Marco? I don't have a lot of time so-"

"We had sex!"


	9. Road to FantaCon

ARMIN: " _What_?!" I shrieked. I shook my head and grabbed his hand. "Tell me while I take a shower, I'm running outta time."

"Well, we were both hammered drunk so I can't really recall the details. But I know we had sex, because I woke up at 4 AM to puke and my jockstrap was on the floor." Marco said.

"That's great," I muttered.

I forced him to close his eyes while I stripped and got into the shower. "You can continue."

"Anyway, I'm pretty sure I gave the best drunk BJ ever," Marco noted.

"Uh huh..." I mumbled. "Was that the first time you've had sex?"

"No, the first time was when I was sixteen in high school. I was sober that time, but I found out I like to top with occasional experimentation." Marco explained.

"What's it like?" I immediately regretted asking.

"It's _amazing_ , holy shit. You seem more like a bottom to me, so I think it's way better on that end-literally."

"Did you remember to use protection?"

Marco was silent for a minute. Then I heard him whisper, "Holy shit I think I forgot..."

"Dammit Marco," I muttered.

"I at _least_ used lube," Marco pointed out, "gotta grease yourself up otherwise it hurts like hell."

My heartbeat sped up. I didn't realize it would be that painful if you didn't take precautions.

"Oh..." I mumbled.

"And you gotta make sure that you relax yourself; no matter how much you wanna, you _cannot_ clench your ass cheeks when he's going in." Marco warned.

"Good to know..."

"I might as well educate Eren on this, too, seeing as you'll probably be his bottom."

I nearly dropped the soap. " _Excuse_ me?"

"You and Eren would be cute together," Marco said.

I finished showering and wrapped the towel around my waist.

"You're so skinny...I wish I was as skinny as you," Marco pouted.

"No you don't," I insisted, "I look malnourished. Anyway, if your story is over then that's great, and I really gotta go."

The bathroom door opened and Jean appeared in the doorway. He scowled at Marco.

"Morning my darling," Marco said.

"Fuck off," Jean muttered. He kept glancing at Marco as he made his way to one of the toilet stalls.

"He enjoyed it," Marco whispered.

"I did not, you piece of shit," Jean hissed.

I made my way over to the opened door. "Anyway, you two can work out your awkward situation and I-"

I slammed into something and was knocked onto my butt. The towel fell away and I started to freak out.

I looked up and it was, of course, Eren. He had his eyes open this time, and his face was red.

I quickly wrapped the towel around me and ran back to the dorm.

* * *

The silence had never been so awkward. The only noise in the car was the radio playing, and the occasional direction from my phone GPS. Eren was driving, even though I had insisted I drive since he got barely enough sleep. We had bought donuts and coffee for breakfast at Speedway before going out on the open road.

"So..." I mumbled.

"So..." He repeated.

"Are you excited?"

"Yeah, I guess. I don't really know what to expect." He shrugged.

"Well, there are usually a lot of people walking around. There are booths everywhere selling merchandise..." I explained.

"Sounds cool."

There was another brief silence. The thirty-minute trip seemed like it was taking an hour.

"So...Marco and Jean..." Eren brought up.

"Did Jean tell you? Marco told me what happened, or at least most of it." I added.

"Nah, he didn't say anything."

"Well, Marco told me..." I relayed the entire story to him. He nodded and mumbled occasionally in comprehension.

"So Marco explained the joys of anal to you?" Eren snickered.

I blushed furiously. "What does _that_ mean?!"

"Doesn't have to mean anything," Eren said.

I crossed my arms and pouted. "Just drive."


	10. Meanwhile

JEAN: I couldn't believe I had let that guy into my bed and, shortly after, into my ass.

My entire body was sore and my head was pounding from the hangover.

Stupid fucking Marco...I could barely remember anything. For all I know, it might not have been consented.

But I vaguely remember that. I remember him on his knees, his hands on my hips, his face pressed into my crotch.

"Are you sure?" He had murmured.

I think I said something like, "God please, I can't take it..."

I can't believe I had begged so desperately.

I was in my dorm now, knocking things over and kicking stuff.

"Stupid...how could I have been so stupid...?" I muttered.

There was a knock on the door.

"If it's you, Marco, I don't wanna talk!" I shouted.

"Jean, you're acting like a child. Please just open the door and talk to me." Marco said calmly.

He sounded like my mom. In fact, if my mom had been here she would've forced me to open the door.

Stiffly, I let him inside. He had normal clothes on (thank God).

"Jean, I wanna know who taught you that being gay was wrong?" Marco began.

"Who taught me? No one, I just came to that conclusion on my own." My mom had actually told me over and over that love in any form was love nonetheless. But I hadn't believed her.

"Why?"

"Why? Because, it's weird and unnatural and gross!"

"Am I gross?"

"Yes, you're the grossest one I've met because you had sex with me!"

"Jean, we were both drunk. We were both out of our right minds. But we did both consent."

"Well because of you my entire body is fucking sore!"

My body was trembling with anger now. I wasn't even fully angry, mostly just confused.

It's not like I had enjoyed the sex, but had I?

I barely remembered any of it, and I'm sure Marco didn't, either.

I crossed my arms and sat on my bunk.

"Did you enjoy it, Jean?" Marco asked quietly.

"Are you insane? How could I enjoy-?"

I noticed he was sitting on the floor now, on his knees in front of me.

I now regained a vivid memory of his head between my legs, and I grew angrier. Had I let him do that to me?

"Jean, did you enjoy it?" He repeated.

"I..." I faltered. Now that I had recovered some memory of that experience, I was maybe starting to believe that I had enjoyed it.

"Jean, I'm sorry," Marco said. "We were both so drunk, but drunk sex isn't real sex. We did both give consent, but it wasn't as good as sober sex."

I couldn't speak now. What could I even say to him that wouldn't make me sound gay?

"Why did we do that?" I muttered. "More importantly, why did you do that?"

Marco sighed and scratched the back of his neck. He didn't meet my eyes for a second...but then he did. "I thought...I thought maybe you weren't really a homophobic asshole deep down. I thought maybe...maybe I could do something about it?" He admitted.

"You thought fucking me would turn me gay and less homophobic?" I started to get angry again.

"Yeah...I'm really sorry. I won't ever do something like that again. We were drunk and stupid, and I was stupid..." Marco stood up and went to the door.

I could almost hear my mother's voice screaming at me to keep talking to him. "Hey, wait..."

He turned around.

"Uh...you said that sober sex was better than drunk sex...?" I asked curiously. My heart was pounding. Am I just gonna ask him for sex now? What the hell?

"Yeah..." Marco said. His eyes went to the floor, and he shifted around. "Did...did you wanna try it?"

"If we never, ever talk about it ever again, then...yeah." I decided

Marco's face lit up a little.

"Uh...no homo," I added.

He smirked. "Say that all you want, hon." He pushed me onto the bed.


	11. The FantaCon Experience

EREN: I groaned when I first as the line entering the building for FantaCon. I thought we'd be out here all day for sure. To my surprise, the line moved exceedingly quickly, and we were able to get inside within 10 minutes of arriving.

Armin's eyes lit up immediately. They were like little blue Christmas lights that would never burn out. He mumbled to himself while his eyes darted around to stare at all the costumes.

"Eren, see that girl? She's dressed as Amarys from the books!" Armin whispered excitedly.

"Yeah..." I mumbled. Since the books didn't have any pictures, I wasn't sure how accurate that girl's costume was. But Armin didn't seem to care.

"That's what's cool about cosplay; if we don't know how the character is supposed to look, we all have a different interpretation. But that's what's so great; no one cosplays them quite the same." Armin beamed.

I nodded. He was really excited about this, even if he'd been through the same routine over and over again.

"Oh my God, I've been looking for a figurine of this guy for ages!" He suddenly exclaimed, making a beeline for a booth up ahead.

"Hey, wait!" I uttered stiffly. I didn't want to get lost in the sea of nerds. Once when I was four, I had gotten lost at the mall with my mom and cried for an hour. I'd never tell anyone about it, but that experience scarred me for a while.

I found him gawking at a little doll of some anime character.

"Aww...if I bought this, I'd blow all my cash..." He whined.

"You can't buy it online?" I asked.

"I've tried, but I couldn't find it anywhere." He said. He reached out and brushed his fingers over the figurine, until the seller saw him and he recoiled swiftly.

"How much is it?" I asked involuntarily. I dreaded to know.

He held up the price tag and I nearly pissed myself.

I sighed. "Alright, I'll lend you half the money you need for it, okay?"

"What? Why?" Armin's eyes widened again.

"There's not much I want here, so I figured I'd just spend my cash on you. Besides, it's kinda like payback for dragging you to the party last night." I shrugged.

"Eren, you really don't have to..." Armin's voice held a hint of pining for the figure. He sounded like a kid who had been offered money by his grandparents in front of his parents, and was expected to turn them down.

"Whatever." I insisted, digging around in my pocket for my wallet. Thank God Armin had sewn pockets on our costumes. I opened it up and slapped half the cash he needed on the counter.

Armin fished through his wallet and produced the other half. The booth keeper reached behind him and pulled a box off the shelf and handed it to Armin.

Once the box touched his hands, his eyes lit up again.

"Eren, how can I thank you?" Armin beamed.

"Don't worry about it," I decided, "isn't that what I signed up for? Isn't this what being your cosplay partner is?"

* * *

If you've never walked into a McDonald's wearing full cosplay, you should be aware of all the people who are bound to stare at you when you walk in.

My hands were shaking from the sudden attention from everyone around us. Despite Armin's shy nature, he didn't seem too bothered by it.

We ordered our burgers and sat down at one of the tables.

"You're normally so shy, but why is it that when you stand out the most you'll seem more confident?" I asked.

"It might seem weird, but when I become the characters I cosplay I try to act the same way they'd act. Rhys wouldn't be bothered by anything; he has a kingdom to rule and he has to stay cool and collected in dire situations." Armin admitted.

"You're really good at it," I offer.

"Thanks; I was in drama back in high school, so that kinda helps." Armin replied. "I never did any of the musicals, though...I don't like singing in front of crowds."

"Neither do I. Mikasa said I sounded like a wounded duck once." I laughed lightly.

Armin traced his tray with a French fry. "Hey...can I ask you about Mikasa?"

"What do you wanna know?" I questioned.

"Why did you break up with her? You said she was kinda crazy..." Armin trailed off.

"Well, initially I wanted to break up because she was going off to Harvard and I was going here. But she didn't wanna break up, and she got angry about it. She started leaving me nasty notes in my locker, she slashed the tires on my car, and she broke into my room and wrote on my wall in red Sharpie." I explained.

"Dang," Armin nodded.

"So then I was like, 'You realize we have to break up now, right? You're crazy psychotic'. And she was like, 'But I love you', and I'm like 'I do too but I don't love this'. So we just kinda split up. I haven't seen her since, and I'm not sure I want to."

"Mm." Armin nodded.

"When did you first figure out you were pansexual?" I asked.

"Ehh, I always kinda knew I liked more than girls. I got teased a lot for it, but Farlan and Isabel helped me through it." He replied.

"Are you planning to see them soon? I'd like to meet them."

"Maybe over Christmas break when I go home." He answered.

"I don't even wanna think about going home." I said.

"You said your dad called you stupid...?" Armin questioned.

"Yeah, not like I'm not used to that." I shrugged.

"What's your mom like?" He continued.

"She's sick with cancer." I state.

"Oh..." He mumbled.

I'm glad he didn't apologize, but I realized I had said "I'm sorry" when he told me his parents died.

We sat there in an awkward silence before I figured out I was done with my meal and emptied my tray in the trash.

"Ready to go home?" I asked him.

He nodded.

On the way home, we didn't speak for a very long time.

Finally I asked, "When's the next convention?"

"Umm..." Armin scrolled through his phone. "It's in January, it's called 'GamaCon'."

"Who are you going to cosplay?"

"I think I'm gonna cosplay..." More scrolling. "Here: Roxas from the game Kingdom Hearts." He held up a picture of him for me.

"Who do you want me to be?"

He held up another picture of a guy who looked nearly identical to his character, except mine had brown hair.

"Who's that?"

"Sora from Kingdom Hearts. He's one of the main characters, and my character Roxas is what is known as Sora's 'Nobody'. I could try to explain it but I don't really know how to without confusing you; it confuses me sometimes." He admitted.

"Let's get working on it, then." I smiled.


	12. Inner Musings

ARMIN: "You really like that figurine, huh?" Marco smirked at me, catching me staring intently at it-again.

"Huh? Well yeah, I've been looking for it for years." I pointed out.

"But also, you love it because Eren bought it for you." Marco hinted.

"That's also true, in a way. I'm just surprised Eren would want to spend his money on me." I admitted.

"You stare at that figurine the same way you stare at Eren; it's more than that." Marco said.

I shrugged. "I'm gonna be late to art class," I said, slinging my backpack over my shoulder and grabbing my sketchbook off my desk.

* * *

"Today, we will be studying the lovely figure of my lovely wife, Nanaba," Mr. Zacharius announced, motioning to a woman with short blonde hair at the front of the class. "Open your sketchbooks-and gentlemen, you've seen breasts before so I expect you not to stare at my wife's too long; otherwise I'll have to fight you."

"Mike," the woman chided playfully.

"You may begin."

I opened my sketchbook to a blank page and touched the tip of the pencil to the paper.

Suddenly I felt hot breath on my ear, startling me.

"Did he say his wife's name was Nanaba?" Reiner whispered.

"I-I think so...why?" I asked.

"Do you think I'd get in trouble if I drew her as a banana?"

"I don't know," I admitted.

He chuckled, smirking and drawing away from me.

* * *

I finished my sketch of Nanaba early and flipped to a page where I had been sketching Roxas's outfit (not the Organization robes).

Someone tapped me on the shoulder, jarring me.

"Hey, is that Roxas from Kingdom Hearts?" Historia asked.

"Yeah, I'm cosplaying him for GamaCon." I whispered back.

"Dude, I'm going to GamaCon. I'm cosplaying Naminé from Kingdom Hearts." She smiled excitedly. "Can I go with you?"

"Oh, sure. Eren is also coming with us. He's cosplaying Sora." I agreed.

"Don't worry, I'll pay for my own ticket," she said.

"Thanks," I nodded, "but it's not until March."

"I know, but I've been planning this for a really long time." She said. "So, what are you doing for Thanksgiving?"

"I'm going home to visit my grandpa." I said. "I call him every day, but I hope he's doing alright."

"That's nice; I'm taking Ymir to meet my parents for the first time. Are you taking Eren?" Historia asked.

My heart jerked slightly. "Wh-why?"

"Because you're dating, aren't you?"

"N-no! He's straight," I insisted. "Besides, he's probably wouldn't want me if he wasn't straight."

"Come on, you can't be serious," Historia rolled her eyes. "He does so much for you, he's bound to like you."

"He's straight!" I insisted, a little louder than I had hoped.

Historia sat back down in her seat.

"S-sorry..." I mumbled.

"It's okay." She replied. "I understand."

I'm glad she did, because I sure as hell didn't.


	13. Bro Code

EREN: Connie wasn't a very obnoxious roommate.

Actually, I take that back; he was obnoxious, but in a different way.

Connie Springer was obnoxious in the way that he played horror games at two in the morning hopped up on Mountain Dew and Cheetos.

Connie Springer was obnoxious in the way that he brought his new girlfriend Sasha over almost every night and made out with her very loudly (never making it past second base, though).

Connie Springer was obnoxious in the way that he almost never cleaned up his dishes and I swear something ran across my chest in the middle of the night. I didn't even know mice could run upward.

But all that was even more bearable than having Jean as a roommate.

I'd heard from Marco that Jean had been denying any feelings for him, and has brought several girls to his room in the past few weeks. Marco was heartbroken over this.

"I was hoping I could go over to his house for Thanksgiving, but I probably should've known he wasn't going to ask me," Marco told me a few days before Thanksgiving break.

"Jean's an asshole," I replied, "I'm not sure why you'd want him."

"Because he's hot!" Marco cried indignantly.

"Dude, trust me when I tell you that Jean isn't worth it." I patted him on the back.

Marco groaned. "But I thought he actually liked me when he let me have sex with him that day!"

"Guys are stupid; you and I both know that." I assured him. "We don't get hints, we suck at relationships...it's up to us to keep each other sane. It's part of the Bro Code."

"Yeah..." Marco agreed solemnly.

"What are you doing for Thanksgiving?" I asked.

"Just going to visit my family and then going to my grandma's like we do every year." He replied.

"I'd ask you to come over to my house or something but my parents are kinda homophobic." I admitted.

"I can tone it down," Marco offered.

"Then you're more than welcome to come over." I smiled.

"Thanks, Eren." Marco replied. He waited for a moment, and then continued, "Hey, how come you're not asking Armin over for Thanksgiving?"

"I figured he had plans already." I admitted. "Why?"

"Because I think he'd like it if you showed up." Marco said.

"I can't just show up," I pointed out.

"Didn't he ask you?" Marco seemed surprised.

"No...?" I answered, still confused why it was so abnormal.

"Okay..." Marco seemed distant now.

"Anyway, you're more than welcome to come. Here's my address." I wrote it down on a scrap of paper and handed it to him.

"Thanks." Marco replied, his voice still airy like it was floating away with his ideas.

* * *

Later that day at the coffee shop, I was cleaning up the grinders when Armin offered to have me come over for Thanksgiving. Immediately I knew Marco had asked Armin to do so.

"I'd like to, but if it's a burden on your grandpa then I won't intrude." I told him.

Armin looked surprised. "What? No, my grandpa loves company. You should come over, and bring Marco, too!"

"I...okay. But can it be the day after Thanksgiving? My mom would prefer me to be home for that." I agreed.

"Oh, yeah. We'll save you some leftovers." Armin smiled. "Grandpa makes the best mashed potatoes in the world."

I smiled back at him. "I look forward to it. And, you can come to Thanksgiving at my house."

"Oh...okay," Armin pulled a stray piece of his hair out of his face. "I look forward to it, too."

* * *

When I returned to the dorm, I found Connie and Sasha making out on the floor as usual.

"Come on guys, can't you save it for Thanksgiving break?" I griped.

Connie broke away for a second. "I'm already going over to her house. But she said she'd stuff me with so much food I wouldn't have enough room in my stomach to eat her."

I scrunched my face up in disgust.

"You have a pretty ravenous appetite though, babe," Sasha giggled.

I slapped my hand over my face and decided I might as well sleep in the hallway.


	14. Surprise Visitor

EREN: I didn't want to return home, but my mom expected me to visit for the holidays.

Not only that, but I wanted to know how well she was doing...

But there was something turning in my stomach that told me something was wrong.

I disregarded it at first, until I knocked on the door.

The first person to greet me was someone I didn't expect to appear: Mikasa.

I nearly pissed myself right there. My blood ran cold and my stomach turned.

"M-Mikasa! Hey! H-how are you?" I stammered.

She regarded me with her stony eyes and a lack of a smile. But the smile crept across her face following my words.

"I'm great, Eren," she said in a sickly-sweet tone. "Come on in."

"What are you doing here? I thought you went to Harvard." I said.

"I did, but your parents invited me over for Thanksgiving." Mikasa said. "Besides, someone has to help out with your mother."

I took off my coat and at the sound of the zipper jingling, Mikasa whirled around.

"Maybe that shouldn't be the only thing you take off," she suggested in a low voice. It was the same low voice she used when she took my unmeasurable virginity.

"Ah...Mikasa, I-" I began, but I was cut off by my mother's shuffling footsteps.

She didn't look any better since I left: her skin was translucent and stretched across her bones that had become more visible. There was a dirty scarf around her bald head. She had lost her hair to the chemotherapy two years ago.

"H-hey Mom..." I mumbled. "How are you doing?"

She met my eyes with her honey-colored ones. Her eyes were the only things that seemed at all lively. I realized now that she was fading away quicker.

"Eren..." She said, hurrying her shuffling.

"No, stay over there; I'll come to you." I said, doing so.

I gently wrapped my arms around her frail body.

"How are you, Mom? You shouldn't be walking like this." I murmured.

"Don't tell me how to be, Eren; you know we Jäegers have a history of being hard to kill." She chided me gently. "How's college?"

"It's okay," I admitted. "I miss you."

"I miss you too, Eren." Mom replied. "Mikasa's been calling me and she helped out this morning before you came."

"Oh, really?" That thought worried me. I knew my parents really liked Mikasa, which made it hard to break up with her. When I finally did, my mom had said Mikasa was really the best thing that happened to me.

"You sound like you're getting stronger, Carla." Mikasa said.

"I don't know about that..." She admitted.

"You Jaëgers are hard to kill," Mikasa pointed out.

Mom smiled weakly. "I'm going back to bed; Mikasa is making dinner tonight. Your father will be home in an hour."

I didn't want her to leave, but I didn't want her to get weak. Mom shuffled back to her room.

Mikasa turned to me sharply. "I think it's time we caught up."

* * *

I had suggested we go for a walk around the neighborhood, but I felt the further we got from my house the easier it would be for her to kill me and drag my body off somewhere.

"How's Rose University?" Mikasa asked right away.

"It's okay, I don't have many friends," I said, "but two of them are coming over for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow."

"I see...females?" Mikasa continued.

"Males," I replied.

"Gay or straight?"

"Marco is gay, and Armin is pansexual."

"Attractive?"

"Uhh...I'm straight...?" I replied, but since the kiss I had been wondering if I had meant more by letting Armin kiss me.

"Hm."

"Mikasa, I don't understand why you couldn't just leave my life like any other ex-girlfriend." I explained.

"Why? Because I still love you!" Mikasa said as if it should be obvious.

"Mikasa, I broke up with you for a reason," I continued, "and it wasn't because you were going to Harvard and I was going to Rose U: it's because you wouldn't leave me the hell alone."

Mikasa put her hand over her chest like she was hurt, and maybe she was but I wasn't too sure.

"But Eren...I love you!" Mikasa cried.

"No, you don't!" I shouted. "If you really loved me, you would leave me alone!"

"Eren, you need me!" Mikasa insisted.

"Mikasa, I did once, but I don't anymore. I'm not your boyfriend, I'm not your child."

"Eren, your mother needs me now. If you're not home, then who will be?"

"Mikasa, my dad exists. And I know he's not always home, but my mom has the neighbors to take care of her. You have to attend Harvard."

"About that, Eren..."

My heart nearly stopped.

"...I'm thinking about dropping out to take care of your mother until she's better."

"Why...?"

"Because she needs someone trustworthy to take care of her."

"Mikasa, you're not the one to do it! You have your own life, so live it! Don't waste your time on someone like me, go live your life!" I cried.

She was taken aback at this. I had never shouted at her before, I'd always been too afraid.

She squared her jaw and refused to meet my eyes. "Right, how silly of me. I got so carried away with you I forgot my dreams..."

Her voice had dropped to a sad tone, but I didn't believe she was actually sad.

"I'll leave and never come back once Thanksgiving break is over." She said.

"Thanks...you were a pretty great girlfriend, but that's all over now." I replied.

She nodded once. "Right; let's get back to your house now."


	15. Ironically Unthankful at Thanksgiving

EREN: Armin and Marco showed up to my house at about 4:30 in the afternoon on Thanksgiving for dinner.

Mikasa was cooking most of the Thanksgiving meal while Mom rested in the living room watching football with Dad.

"Hey guys, glad you could make it," I smiled.

"Thanks for having us over, Eren. Here, this is for your mom; we baked them yesterday." Marco handed me a box filled with cookies. "Consider them a hostess gift."

"Thanks guys, she'll love them. Come on in."

"Eren, who are they?" Dad asked, not taking his eyes off the TV.

"These are my friends from college, Armin Arlert and Marco Bodt." I introduced.

"Nice to meet you, sir." Armin said, and Marco repeated.

"Come over here and give me a handshake like real men do." Dad said. "I'm surprised you managed to even make friends, Eren. What without Mikasa, you'd have been alone all of high school."

"Yeah, that's for sure," I said through clenched teeth.

"Anyway, better hope they don't eat everything; your mother needs this stuff for her strength." Dad added.

"Mom, this is Armin and this is Marco," I introduced again.

"It's nice to meet you boys," Mom smiled weakly.

"It's our pleasure," Armin replied.

Mikasa appeared from the kitchen to inspect my friends. She seemed to gravitate more toward Armin, as if sensing our special relationship.

"Come help me in the kitchen, one of you." She said.

"Armin, Marco, this is my ex-girlfriend Mikasa." I said.

"Nice to-" Armin began, but she grabbed Marco and dragged him into the kitchen.

"Since you're be dating Mikasa anymore, you'd better find yourself a new girlfriend to keep you together." Dad said. He opened another beer and sipped it generously.

"I-I don't really see why I-" I began, but Dad peered at me through his round glasses.

"Eren, you were nothing without Mikasa; do your dying mother a favor and get your life together." Dad interrupted.

"I...yes, sir." I agreed. "Come on Armin, let's go outside."

* * *

"Your dad is pretty harsh," Armin pointed out.

"I'm used to it," I shrugged.

"Still, you're 18 and you can make decisions yourself." He said.

I shrugged again, not answering verbally.

"A-are you really going to find yourself a girlfriend?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Why does it matter to you?"

I feel like I had said it a little harsher than I had meant.

"I-I-I don't know..." He admitted. "Just wondering, since you'd probably want to spend more time with her than going to cons with me."

"Armin, I basically signed a deal to go to these cons with you; I wouldn't ditch you so easily." I told him.

"Are you sure? It's not like you physically signed a contract or anything, you could end it whenever you want." Armin insisted.

"Why would I wanna do that? I like going to conventions with you, even if we've only been to one so far."

His eyes seemed to light up the same way they did when he saw that figurine.

"Really?" He asked again.

"Yeah, of course." I confirmed.

"I really like you," he said.

The world seemed to stop turning for a second.

"Huh?"

His face turned as red as cranberry sauce. "N-n-nothing!" He squeaked. "I-I just meant I liked going to conventions with you too, and I really liked having you as my cosplay partner!"

"Oh, right..." I faltered. I wondered if I had actually wanted him to say that he liked me as more than his cosplay partner. I'm not sure what I would've gained with that knowledge, though. "I really like you, too."

Suddenly, there was an angry-sounding tapping at the sliding glass door. It slid open and Mikasa poked her head through it. "Dinner's ready." She said flatly.

"Okay, thanks Mikasa." I said, getting up. I held my hand out to help Armin up, and he took it. Mikasa slammed the sliding door.

"What's her problem?" Armin questioned.

"Dunno," I admitted.

* * *

We sat down at the table, the food in a delicious array in front of us.

Mikasa led the saying of "Grace" and then she passed around the turkey.

"What are you thankful for, Eren?" Mom asked.

"I'm thankful for my friends being able to join me for dinner today, and I'm thankful that you've made it to today. You're doing so well, Mom." I answered.

I heard Mikasa clear her throat at the end of the table.

"Mikasa, would you like to say something?" Mom asked.

"Carla, I'm also thankful that you have made it so far; I am thankful that I could be there to help you in your time of need." She said.

"I'm thankful you could be here for me too, Mikasa. What would this family do without you?" Mom said.

"Yes, Mikasa, what would we do without you?" Dad agreed.

"I'm glad you think this way, but once the break is over I'm leaving at Eren's request." Mikasa said. The sadness in her voice that had appeared yesterday returned.

Dad turned his head to me sharply. "Is that true, Eren? Are you wishing for Mikasa to leave this family?"

"I...well, I did say the other day that she should follow her dreams of becoming a lawyer at Harvard and not waste her time here..." I admitted.

"Wasting my time? Eren, how could you think that way?" Mikasa inquired.

I felt as though a spotlight were shining on me, exposing me in front of a judgmental crowd.

"I just think you shouldn't neglect your studies for something like this." I corrected myself.

"Eren, are you saying your mother's cancer isn't worth taking care of? Are you wishing your mother to die?" Dad's words felt like bullets piercing me. How could he even assume that?

"What? No, I'm just saying Mom is doing well and Mikasa's help won't be needed soon."

"Eren, you and Mikasa know I'm not getting any better; let her do her best in trying to keep me alive," Mom said.

"Mom, you're not gonna die!" I was beginning to raise my voice.

"Young man, don't you dare raise your voice at your mother." Dad scolded.

"Dad I-" I began, but was interrupted by Mikasa's loud tears.

"No no, he's right; Carla, you are doing much better, and soon my services won't be needed. I'm glad I was a part of this family, but it's time for me to depart." She said.

Armin glanced at Marco, and then they both glanced at me.

"Mikasa, you're welcome here any time," Dad said.

"Dad, don't you understand? I broke up with her months ago, she shouldn't be staying here anyway. Most people's ex-girlfriends disappear after the breakup." I pointed out.

"Mikasa has become a very important part of this family, doing much more than you could ever do." Dad said.

"Grisha..." Mom began, but Dad cut her off.

"No Grisha, he's right; I've only been a burden to this family." Mikasa wept.

"Mikasa, you're always welcome here. I can't say the same for some." Dad glanced at me.

"Dad, are you really choosing my ex-girlfriend over me?" I asked in astonishment.

"Mikasa will always be welcome in this household. As for you, young man, you'd best be glad college is giving you a free place to stay. Once college is over, you're out of here."

"No Grisha, I really can't..." Mikasa's voice seemed drawn out, like she was really expecting him to confirm her welcome.

"Cut your shit out, Mikasa!" I shouted, standing up now. "I know you're faking being upset, so just cut it out! I always knew you were crazy but this is beyond crazy!"

The table fell silent.

"Eren..." Mom began, but her voice was weak.

"Mikasa, take Carla to bed; the stress isn't good for her health." Dad said, staring at the table. Mikasa hurried up and wheeled my mother to her room.

"As for you, young man, meet me outside." Dad said, suddenly facing me.

At this moment, I wasn't thankful for Armin and Marco being here.

I wasn't thankful they had to see my father beat me behind the house.

Armin wouldn't meet my eyes as he left, and I doubted he'd let me come over tomorrow.


	16. I Confess (I Messed Up)

ARMIN: "Come on, pick up, pick up," I pleaded. The phone seemed to be burning a hole into my head as it rested against my ear.

Finally Eren picked up. "Hello?" He croaked.

"Eren!" I sighed. "Thank God you're okay. I'm so sorry about what happened at dinner."

"It's okay, Armin; I'm fine." Eren said.

"Did he hurt you badly?"

"Just a split lip and a black eye," he said.

"Ohhh..." I groaned.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," he mumbled, "you shouldn't have had to witness that."

"Never mind that, I just want to make sure you're alright." I insisted.

"Well I am, so don't worry." He chuckled a little lightly, and my heart skipped.

"So...about what I said earlier...about liking you..." I began, my heart now thudding in my chest.

"Yeah...?"

"I...I just wanted to say that my grandpa is sure to like you when you come over tomorrow." I said quickly.

"I'm still invited? Even after all that?" Eren seemed surprised.

"Of course," I agreed, "especially after all that. You didn't get to eat dinner, so you should come over to my house."

"Hey Armin? Thanks," he said earnestly, "you're really great."

"Heh, no problem..." I shrugged.

"I should get to sleep," he decided, "goodnight Armin; see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Eren." I smiled, hanging up.

* * *

I ran the comb through my hair several more times and re-straightened my bow tie.

"Armin, your friend is here," Grandpa called out from the kitchen.

"Coming!" I called back.

I glanced at myself in the mirror once last time, and sighed. I'd probably never look perfect, but at least I was decent.

I ran into the kitchen to find Eren standing there with a bottle of sparkling grape juice.

"I-I'm not old enough to buy liquor, so I got this as a host gift instead," he said, handing the bottle to Grandpa.

Grandpa chuckled. "Why thank you; this will make a fine accompaniment to dinner."

"Grandpa, this is Eren Jäeger," I said, "my friend from college."

"So he's the one you went to FantaCon with, eh?" Grandpa asked.

"The very same," I agreed.

"Well you're just as dashing in real life as you are in Armin's photos, even with that shiner you've got there." Grandpa decided. "You'll make a fine partner for my grandson."

My ears turned red and my face felt hot. "G-Grandpa!" I shrieked. "Eren is straight!"

"Hey, so was your grandmother until Myrtle Frost transferred to the school" Grandpa teased. "Anyway, dinner won't be done until a half hour from now, so you two go enjoy yourselves while I finish up in here."

"Thanks, sir," Eren said.

I dragged him away to the basement.

"Your grandpa is awesome." He laughed.

"He's embarrassing me," I pouted. "Anyway, how's your eye?"

"It's fine; I've had worse." Eren admitted. "You really think I'd make a good boyfriend for you?"

"Huh? Well...sure, I guess." I replied.

"I'm glad to hear that; you'd make a good boyfriend, too." He said.

My heart jumped. Did Eren mean I'd make a good boyfriend for him? I didn't like all this uncertainty, I had to confess something to him. But didn't I already the other day?

"Look, Eren...I-" I began.

"Aww, who's this little cutie?" Eren asked, spotting my cat Bean on the couch.

"Oh, that's Bean; she doesn't like visitors that much." I said.

Eren held out his hand, which Bean sniffed and licked. He stroked her head at this invitation.

"Hey, no one's ever met Bean for the first time and gotten her approval." I said.

"Guess I'm special," Eren chuckled.

Yes, you are to me, I thought.

"Eren...I..." I tried again, but he found interest in something else.

"What kind of video games do you have? Can you show me Kingdom Hearts?" He asked.

"S-sure." I knelt to the PS3 and popped the Kingdom Hearts disc in. It seemed to load for an eternity. "I finished the series for the third time over the summer, so I guess I can start over."

I restarted the game and showed him the basics of it.

"Wait, so when does Rock Salt or whoever come in?" I asked.

"Rock Salt...? Oh, Roxas," I laughed, "oh he comes in later. Sora is the main character."

"Dinner's ready, boys!" Grandpa shouted from upstairs.

"Coming!" I shouted back.

I paused the game and we ran upstairs.

* * *

"Grandpa, this looks amazing," I beamed, gawking at all the food.

"Eat all you want, Eren; there will be plenty of leftovers either way." Grandpa offered.

"Thanks, sir," Eren mumbled.

I piled up my plate with a heap of mashed potatoes, three slabs of turkey, two scoops of green beans, and a huge warm dinner roll.

"Save some for your guest, Armin," Grandpa laughed. "Then again, you do need some meat on your bones."

Eren piled his plate up the same as I did, and we devoured it slowly. Grandpa opened the bottle of sparkling grape juice and each poured us a glass.

"So Eren, have you decided a major yet?" Grandpa asked.

"Uh, no, just getting my core classes done. I'm thinking about going into psychology since I was a little better at that in school. Maybe some women's studies, too..." Eren replied.

"Women's studies?" I inquired.

"Ah, Mikasa," Eren admitted, his face reddening.

"Who's this Mikasa gal?" Grandpa questioned.

"My ex-girlfriend..." Eren answered, "but she taught me a lot while we were dating."

"I see...how'd you get that shiner there, son?"

"Oh...fist fight at school. Someone was picking on Armin." Eren lied.

"Y-yeah, Eren saved me." I added.

Now my grandpa was the type of person who knew when people were lying, but he knew whether or not to pry. I could tell in his eyes he wasn't going to pry.

"Thank you for taking care of my grandson," Grandpa replied simply. He raised his glass. "To Eren."

I raised mine as well. "To Eren."

"What? Why?" Eren laughed sheepishly, raising his glass with ours.

"Because, without you, I wouldn't have anyone at college." I answered.

Eren fell silent, and the only noise in the room was the clinking of our glasses.

* * *

"Come on, come on...shit," Eren muttered, as Sora once again made a wrong turn.

"Hey, you're doing better than I did the first time I tried playing it," I admitted.

"Yeah, okay..." He mumbled back.

I shoveled another chunk of pecan pie into my mouth.

"You eat a lot for someone of your size," Eren noted.

"Yeah." I agreed. At that moment I had remembered I was going to say something to Eren. I swallowed my pie and immediately my hands began shaking.

"Hey...Eren...I need to tell you something," I began.

"Yeah?" He mumbled distractedly.

"C-can you pause that?"

He paused the game and turned to face me.

My body was trembling as I said each word, "Eren...you know how yesterday I said I really liked you?"

"Yeah...?"

"I...I have a crush on you, Eren."

There was silence. Then, "Gee Armin, I...I don't know what to say..."

"I-I know. I'm sorry." I didn't meet his eyes.

"Don't be sorry," Eren said, "I don't mind. But, I just don't know how to feel about it."

"Don't let my feelings ruin our friendship; I'm sorry if it has now." I felt a tear running down my face. Dammit, why did I have to cry now?

"Hey, don't cry," Eren murmured, wiping my tears away with his thumbs. My heart contorted in sadness; why did he have to be straight? "It's gonna be okay; you're still my friend."

"I...okay..." I nodded.

He leaned forward to hug me, but I pushed him away.

"Please, don't..." I felt horrible for rejecting his hug, but I knew if he hugged me I would just feel worse.

"I understand." He replied.

Suddenly, Eren's phone rang. He picked it up. "Hello?"

I watched as his face turned pallid.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Armin, I gotta go." He said, jumping off the couch and grabbing his jacket.

"O-okay," I agreed, "thanks for coming over."

"Yeah, thanks for inviting me. See ya at school on Monday."

Eren dashed upstairs, thanked my grandpa, and closed the door behind him.

* * *

Later that night, Eren called me. My heart jumped, hoping it would be an answer to my confession.

"Hello? Eren? What is it?" I asked rapidly.

His voice sounded hoarse. "I-it's my mom...she...she passed away five minutes ago..."

"Oh...Eren I..." I began.

"The funeral is next weekend," he continued, "I want you to come."

"Me? But I only met her once, and I'm not sure-" I said, but he interrupted me.

"Armin, please; I need you. I really, really need you." He begged.

"I...of course, Eren." I decided.

"Thanks Armin," he said. "I-goodnight."

"Wait, what were you-" But Eren hung up, and I sighed in a mixture of discontent and content.

* * *

 **AN:** The title is a reference, if you can guess it.


	17. Happiness at a Funeral

EREN: My mom's funeral took place the following weekend, but for me it lasted nearly all week.

As a result my grades were slipping more than usual, despite calling my professors telling them of my absence.

The Saturday was the actual funeral. I paced in the hall of the funeral home, greeting family members I hadn't seen since last Christmas and even longer than that.

Armin finally appeared with a bouquet of lilies, and my heart thudded. On top of thinking about what life would be like without my mom, I had been thinking about what my life would be like with Armin.

"Hey," he smiled faintly.

"Hey," I nodded.

"These are from my grandpa and me," he handed me the flowers.

"Thanks," I held them awkwardly, trying not to drop them.

He followed me into the room where my mother's embalmed body rested in a casket.

"She looks peaceful," Armin said.

"Yeah...at least she wasn't really mad at me about Mikasa." I shrugged.

At 10:00 a.m. we sat down for the service. I kind of glazed over the service, continuing to wonder what I'd tell Armin. I hadn't really spoken to him all week, and I couldn't leave him without a response to his confession.

I glanced over at him in his suit, and my heart did a skip. It was nice of him to come to the funeral...

* * *

When the service was over, I got into my car with Armin in the shotgun seat. We rode silently back to my house.

We picked up conversation when we entered my house.

Mikasa was in the kitchen, chatting with Dad. My black eye was healing and was now yellow, but it throbbed once Dad glared at me. I was sure he was going to blame me for Mom's death since I stressed her out at dinner the previous day.

I found this as an opportunity to talk to Armin. He was trying to make conversation with one of my aunts. I strode past him and grabbed his arm.

"Wh-what are you doing?" He stammered.

I didn't answer. I dragged Armin away from everyone and to my bedroom. He sat on the bed, and I sat next to him.

"Armin...I've been thinking about what you said last week, and..." My hands fidgeted as I struggled to find my words.

"What is it?" He asked softly.

"Armin...I really like you, too. I've decided that now. I really like you, like as more than a friend." I announced.

It seemed like an eternity until he answered.

"I...I'm glad to hear that," He smiled, tears pooling and dripping down his face.

"Will you go out with me?" I added. He nodded.

I grabbed his shoulders and pursed my lips. Then, I planted my lips on his. Armin wrapped his arms around my neck and I pulled him closer by the waist.

I closed my eyes, savoring this. It felt strange to find happiness at a funeral, but it didn't seem impossible.

When we broke away, we gazed into each other's eyes, and for a moment I thought I saw a shadow in my vision near the door, but I decided it was just an illusion.


	18. Pre-Christmas Miracle

ARMIN: By the time Christmas break came around, I had finished my Roxas cosplay and had started Eren's Sora cosplay. Historia had gotten her cosplay together already since Naminé was a more simple character.

There was a knock on the door of my dorm, and I knew by the number of knocks that it was Eren. "Come in." I could hardly hold back my smile.

Eren opened the door and sat down on the floor with me. He pushed my bangs back and kissed my forehead. "How's it coming?"

"See for yourself." I stood up, holding what I had of his costume.

"Nice. Hey, I know you don't like parties, but house Omega Epsilon is throwing an ugly sweater party tonight," he said, "want to go with me?"

"Sure," I agreed. I was reluctant to go, but I figured I could do anything as long as Eren was there.

"We should go buy ugly sweaters today," he suggested.

"Let me finish this stitch and I'll be ready to go." I replied sitting back down.

There was rapid thudding down the hall, and suddenly Marco skidded into the room.

"Guys, you will never believe what just happened!" He panted.

"What...?" I asked, not really wanting to know if it had anything to do with sex.

"Jean asked me to go to the Christmas party at Omega Epsilon tonight." He grinned.

"Like...as a date?" Eren confirmed.

"Well, he didn't say it was a date, but it's basically a date." Marco decided. "Guys, it's like a Christmas miracle he's even talking to me!"

"Oh, well I guess that makes it better," I admitted. "Anyway, wanna come ugly sweater shopping with us?"

"I already have an ugly sweater, but it's fantastic." Marco said.

I finished the stitch and lay the costume on my desk. "Alright, let's go."

* * *

Eren and I drove to the nearest store and browsed through the sweaters. I picked out a blue one with snowflakes and darker blue stripes, while Eren chose a red and green one with a sad-looking reindeer on it. It didn't look very ugly on him, honestly.

He drove us back to campus where we changed into the sweaters and waited around in my dorm for the party to start.

"Eren, what made you decide you liked me back?" I asked.

He hesitated, and then answered, "Well, you're really nice, and you make all these amazing cosplays by hand. And I liked kissing you."

"But now you're not really straight anymore..." I pointed out.

"So? I mean, I still prefer girls over boys since you're the only boy I've dated, but that doesn't mean I like you any less." He said.

He really liked me then? I could almost cry from happiness again.

We were both sitting cross-legged on my floor, but he leaned over and tackled me.

Eren kissed me gingerly, smiling in between each kiss. As we kissed longer his smile grew wider and his kisses grew sparse. I giggled on his lips.

Eren's lips moved to my jaw, then to my neck. My heartbeat started to rise. It had clicked I was under him now, pinned to the floor like a butterfly to a cork board. My mind flashed back to that awful day, when she ruined me. I tried to scream, but I couldn't make a sound.

"Armin? Armin!" Eren's shouting ripped me back into reality. He had stopped kissing me. "Are you okay?"

"C-can we stop?" I asked.

Eren wavered for a moment before sitting up on his knees and freeing me.

"I-I'm sorry." I said.

"N-no, don't be," Eren dismissed.

"But I feel bad that you can't even kiss me without going back to that horrible memory." I replied.

"Hey, it doesn't matter," he touched my hand reluctantly. I allowed him to hold it. "I should maybe be more conscious of that."

"I'm so sorry..." I mumbled.

"Armin, it's okay; I still like you." He assured.

"Okay..."

"It's time to go now," he said.

"Oh...so it is..." I agreed, standing up.

Eren reached out and hugged me hesitantly, but I hugged him back assuredly.

* * *

Bertoldt let us into the party where it was almost as packed as the Halloween party. Luckily most of the girls were covered with their ugly sweaters.

"Uh oh..." Reiner's voice boomed over the loud music, "looks like Historia and Ymir are under the mistletoe again!"

We glanced in the direction he aimed his voice at, seeing Historia and Ymir underneath a doorway where a sprig of cheap plastic mistletoe hung. Historia wore a black sweater that read "Nice" in white letters, while Ymir contrasted with a white "Naughty" sweater written in black lettering.

"Reiner, keep your disgusting fetishes off us!" Historia yelled, but I could tell her voice was playful.

Ymir grabbed Historia by the waist and swept her closer, kissing her sloppily. Most of the boys in the frat house cheered in ugly voices.

"My turn~!" Marco sang, appearing out of nowhere with a red sweater that read "Merry Dickmas" in white letters. The sweater was dotted with multicolored penises. He held a red solo cup in his other hand.

From behind him he grabbed Jean, yanking him forward and kissing him. The craziest part was that Jean wasn't pulling or pushing him away.

"Whaaaaat?" I tilted my head.

"Are they, like, a thing now?" Eren asked.

"I don't know..." I mumbled.

Finally Marco and Jean broke away. Jean's lips were pursed tightly, like he was acting disgusted. But his eyes told a different story.

Marco spotted us from where they stood, and he waved at us grandly. He pulled Jean over with him to meet us.

"What...what was that?" I asked.

"It's a pre-Christmas miracle," Marco swooned. He kissed Jean on the cheek.

"Don't rub it in," Jean teased.

"Jean...aren't you straight?" Eren asked.

"Aren't you?" Jean raised his hand at Eren.

"I...I guess not anymore...but what made you change your mind?" Eren continued.

"Thanksgiving break," Jean stated, "my mom found out about Marco and she suggested I be nicer to him. I won't necessarily call myself anything yet, but I can appreciate a good blowjob, and Marco here sucks like a champion."

Marco winked in agreement.

I wrinkled my nose. "I didn't need to know that."

"Uhh, anyway...are you guys spending Christmas together?" Eren cut in hurriedly.

"I hope so; all I want for Christmas is Jean's dick in my ass," Marco said.

I cringed harder. "Okay, let's leave."

Eren laughed, slipping his hand into mine and pulling me away.

I realized quickly how intimate the party actually was despite its size. With so many people worrying about themselves, no one paid any attention to you.

Eren and I hung out in a corner of the kitchen, backs pressed to the wall.

"So...got any plans for Christmas?" I asked, staring down at my cup of root beer.

"No, but I was hoping you could come over like you did for Christmas." Eren said.

"Is...is Mikasa gonna be there?" I felt bad for asking.

"I hope to God not. All I want for Christmas is you, not her." He stated.

My heart did a little trip. "Really?"

"Of course."

"Okay, then I'll come over." I smiled. "But you're coming over to my house, too."

"Alright; my house on Christmas Eve, your house on Christmas Day?" Eren decided.

"Sounds like a plan."


	19. All I Want for Christmas

ARMIN: The scissors glided through the wrapping paper like a hot knife through butter.

I placed Eren's present in the center of the paper and folded the edges up. I taped it together and slapped a ribbon on it.

I wasn't sure if Eren would even like it; it was just a new speaker and a new pair of headphones since his were falling apart at the seams.

I started to regret not going out and buying something for him sooner.

Bean jumped onto my desk and swatted at the present. I held it out of her reach. "No, that's not yours."

I flicked a cat toy at her and she chased it across the room.

Waiting for six pm to come was a long and painful task. I decided to draw to pass the time, but my stomach was fluttering.

Finally the clock struck six and I jumped up from my chair eagerly. I bid my grandpa goodbye and jumped into my car to drive to Eren's.

* * *

Eren opened the door and the sight of him made my heart feel weightless.

"Come on in," he gestured.

"Thanks for inviting me," I said. I had forgotten to bring a host gift this time, but I figured Eren's Christmas present counted.

Eren's father's family had all arrived and we're chatting in the living room.

The room felt empty, and I remembered Eren's mom had passed.

"Is this the young man who came to Carla's funeral?" One of his aunts asked.

"The same, Aunt Gilda," Eren said. "Aunt Gilda, this is Armin."

"It's nice to meet you, ma'am." I said.

"Eren, is this your girlfriend?"

I turned my head to face another elderly woman. This one wore gold-rimmed glasses with inch-thick lenses.

"Aunt Brunhild, Armin is a boy." Eren corrected her. He whispered in my ear, "Aunt Brunhild lost her sight twenty years ago."

I nodded.

"Eren, you're not like one of those gays are you?" Some man sitting in an armchair quipped gruffly.

"No Uncle Randall, he's just my best friend. He doesn't have a lot of friends so I let him come over." Eren sighed.

"Hey!" I cried instinctively, but at least I hoped it was convincing.

"Good. No nephew of mine will be one of those gays." Eren's uncle replied.

"Neither will no son of mine be," Eren's dad chimed in from the doorway.

His gaze shifted to me, and I felt chills trip down my spine. I remembered watching him beat Eren outside. Eren hadn't looked me in the eye during it.

"The gays are taking over this county," Randall said, "pretty soon there won't be any of us left."

I swallowed thickly and hugged his present to my chest. I didn't like this kind of talk.

"Uncle Randall, I don't think gay people will ever outnumber us." Eren said.

"Hmph."

"Eren, don't be sticking your nose in the discussions of adults." Mr. Jäeger said.

"Dad I-" Eren began, but was interrupted by another man.

"Oh come now, Grisha, the boy's eighteen," he chided.

"Don't tell me how to discipline my child, Claud." Mr. Jäeger threatened.

"But that's just it, Grisha; Eren isn't a child, he's an adult." The Claud guy argued.

"Umm, anyway..." Eren grabbed my sleeve and dragged me back to his room, shutting the door.

"Is this what Christmas is normally like?" I asked, placing his present on his bed. I rubbed my wrists, as he had grabbed them too roughly.

"Yeah but they'll be fine," Eren assured me. He took my wrist, examining it. He squinted at the series of little white marks, and my heartbeat sped up. I guess I forgot to tell him about those... "Armin...did you used to cut yourself?"

"Back in middle school, yeah," I admitted, "but I stopped."

He brought my wrists to his lips and kissed them. "Please don't start again."

"I won't," I promised, "I lost too much blood once so I'm scared to ever do it again."

He let my wrists down gently and gazed at me. "Oh, I guess I should give you your present."

He rummaged around behind his bed, pulling out a sloppily-wrapped present.

"Sorry it's so badly wrapped; I suck at wrapping. Mom used to make it look so easy." He said, handing it to me.

"It's fine, but you didn't have to get me anything," I said.

"Yeah I did," he shrugged.

I smiled and opened up the package. Under the wrappings was a boxed figurine of Marlin Rater from Giant Menace. The figure was posed with his legs bent in mid-jump, his guns above his head. I hadn't seen this figurine before.

"Eren, this is awesome! Thank you!" I placed the box on his bed and threw my arms around him.

"Took me forever to find it," he laughed lightly, "and you're welcome."

"Now you open mine." I shoved it at him.

He carefully peeled away the paper and found the speaker and headphones.

"Holy shit I needed these so badly," Eren gasped, "thank you so much."

"You're welcome."

"Let's plug this baby in." Eren grinned.

"It's Bluetooth," I told him.

"Even better."

Eren dug his phone out of his pocket and hooked it up to the Bluetooth.

"What do you want to listen to?" He asked.

"I wanna dance," I mumbled, "I wanna teach you how to waltz."

Eren gave me a weird look. "I can't dance; I'm dance-impaired."

"I can teach you," I said, "but I'll end up being the follow."

I put on a slow song I knew and turned the volume up.

"Okay, so the lead-that's you-has these steps." I showed him how they were supposed to go. His steps were shaky and reluctant, but he had an idea of how to do it.

"Good, okay, so I just do the opposite of what you do. Here's the ballroom stance." I placed his hand on my waist and my hand on his arm. Then I pressed his hand to mine.

We shuffled around for only until the song was over, but I liked being close to him. At the end of the song, Eren leaned over and kissed me.

"Merry Christmas, Armin." He murmured.

"Merry Christmas, Eren." I repeated.


	20. Someplace to Call Home

EREN: I knocked on Armin's door, not really nervous anymore. Even though I've only been to his house once, I felt like it was a second home already. I'd give anything to live there with him instead of with my dad.

"Hello Eren, Merry Christmas to you," his grandfather said once he greeted me at the door, "Armin is-"

He was interrupted by the sudden thudding of Armin's footsteps. "Hey Eren," he said breathlessly, pulling me in.

"Glad you could join us for Christmas." His grandpa added.

"Thanks for letting me come over," I agreed.

"You're more than welcome here," his grandpa said.

That thought settled in me. At least I wasn't a burden in this house.

"Here Eren, I got you a present for taking care of my grandson. I hope you'll take care of yourself with these, too." The old man handed me a package, which I hesitated to open at first, but then he insisted. I tore away the wrappings to find a handmade knit scarf, gloves, and hat.

"Wow...thank you..." I faltered.

"Call me Archie," he suggested.

"Archie Arlert..." I chuckled. "Thank you so much, sir."

Armin smiled, at his grandpa and then me.

I pressed the knit items to my chest thoughtfully, glad I belonged somewhere.

* * *

 **AN:** Wow I really spoiled you guys...actually this is just a result of writing but never posting, but you're welcome.


	21. Family Reunion

ARMIN: December 29th was the day I had been waiting for for a very long time.

My hands shook as I waited inside the cafe. Eren noticed my shaking and placed his hand on top of mine. "Why are you nervous? These are your friends."

"I know, but I haven't talked to them since summer." I admitted.

The bell jingled as the door of the cafe opened. In stepped two people powdered in snow. They searched the cafe until the girl met eyes with me.

"Armin!" She shouted into her scarf. I stood to hug her, and she threw her arms around me. "It's so good to see you!"

"Hey Isabel," I smiled.

"How's it going, Armin?" Farlan grinned.

"I'm good, how about you?" I asked.

"We miss you, man," Farlan replied.

"I miss you guys too." I wiped my hands on my pants and glanced at Eren. "Guys, this is my boyfriend, Eren Jäeger."

Isabel's face lit up. "Oh my God, it's so nice to meet you!" She tackled Eren in a strong hug.

"Nice to meet you too," Eren said, "I've heard a lot about you guys."

"You taking good care of our baby bro?" Farlan punched Eren's arm.

"I hope so," he agreed, smiling at me.

* * *

"How's life at Stohess University going for ya, Armin?" Farlan asked, blowing a wisp of steam away from his coffee.

"Not bad," I shrugged.

"Have you gone to any crazy parties?" He continued.

"A couple, actually," I noted. "Eren went with me."

"Eren's been taking you to wild parties, huh?" Isabel teased.

"I guess," Eren chuckled.

Isabel sipped her coffee. "Have you two kissed yet?"

My ears turned pink under my hat. "Uhh, several times," I answered.

"Is Armin a good kisser?" Isabel grabbed Eren's shoulder.

I fiddled with the tassels on my hat. What if Eren didn't think I was a good kisser?

"Oh he's more than fine," Eren smirked.

My stomach turns. "You're joking!" I pull my hat down over my eyes.

"No, I mean it one hundred percent," Eren shrugged.

I groan in embarrassment under my hat. It was also kind of relieving to me that Eren thought I was a good kisser, but was he just saying that so Isabel wouldn't get angry?

"You two are so cute!" Isabel squealed. "I wish we had more than a couple days to spend with you."

"Will you be in town for New Year's Eve?" I asked.

"It takes us a day to drive here, and school starts back up on January 1st." Farlan said.

"Aww..." I whined.

"Then let's make the best of today!" Isabel announced.

* * *

Making the best of the one day I had with my old friends tired me out more than I thought it would.

The next thing I knew we were slumped over a bench at the mall. Eren was slurping a cherry slushy, allowing me to take a sip every once in a while. The mall was pretty empty since Christmas was over.

"We miss you a lot, Armin," Isabel said.

"I miss you guys, too. After all, you kept me alive for so long." I agreed.

"We're glad we could be your family," Farlan added.

"And now Eren is part of the family!" Isabel ruffled his hair.

"I'm part of your family?" Eren nearly choked on his slushy.

"Well yeah! Anyone who means a lot to Armin means a lot to us," Isabel nodded.

"Thanks...my real family doesn't treat me very well, not that I don't deserve it." Eren said.

"That's not true!" I insist. "You're awesome!"

Eren blushed, putting his arm around me.

"We're glad you're part of the family now," Farlan said.

"Family of freaks!" Isabel cheered.

Isabel threw herself on us, initiating a group hug. I wanted to hold onto her and Farlan forever, I wanted us to be a family forever.

"When we graduate from our first four years of college, let's get a house and live in it and be a real family." Isabel suggested.

"That would be nice, but really difficult." I noted.

"So? We can make it work. Let's do it, okay? Or try at least." Isabel insisted.

"Okay, we can try," Farlan agreed.

Isabel squeezed us in her arms, which weren't long enough to envelop all of us.

"I love you all," she said.

Eren looked slightly startled, but I suppose I would have been startled too if someone I had just met suddenly told me they loved me.

But this wasn't strange to me, this was my family.

* * *

Eren and I watched Farlan and Isabel drive away in Farlan's little blue Volkswagen Beetle, the tire tracks in the snow vanishing from our town.

"Am I really that good of a kisser?" I asked him.

"Yeah," he stated, "I wasn't lying about that."

I pulled my scarf over my nose and mouth, but Eren pulled it back down and kissed me. I hoped I was supporting his claim.

* * *

 **AN:** I went back and fixed some of the chapters because they had stuff in them that wouldn't have made sense later on, like Carla Jaeger dying.


	22. Karaoke-Dokey

ARMIN: "New Year's karaoke party begins now!" Marco's voice sang out.

Well, he wasn't really Marco right now. Right now he was known as Marsha Pan and he was a she.

Of all the places Marco could've held a New Year's party, he picked the drag bar his aunt Lola owned.

Marco-or Marsha-was wearing a leopard-print dress that was barely stretched across her body, and four-inch stilettos. There was glitter sprinkled all over her and her hair and makeup was done up like Jem from Jem and the Holograms.

"Don't be shy~!" She offered.

"I'll do it," Historia piped up. She hopped up onto the stage and took the microphone.

"What do you want to sing?" Lola called from the corner of the room.

"I want to sing...Bubblegum Bitch by Marina and the Diamonds." She decided.

"Ooh I love Marina!" Marsha chimed in.

The music started up and Historia rocked it out on the stage. I was blown away by how amazing her voice was. When the song ended she struck a pose. She jumped off the stage and sat down at the table with us next to Ymir.

"Nice job, babe," Ymir smirked.

"I wanna see you get your ass up there and sing now," Historia pushed Ymir lightly.

"I think Eren should sing." Jean suggested.

"Shut up, man." Eren punched him in the arm.

"Yeah, come on," some new guy I hadn't met before until now added. He had his arm around a brunette girl chewing on a chocolate bar.

"Why don't you sing, Connie?" Eren asked the guy pointedly.

"Yeah Connie! I'll sing with you!" The girl piped up.

"Sasha..." He started to protest, but the girl yanked him up onto the stage.

"I don't know anything though," Connie said. "Except for something...but it's stupid."

"Oh come on!" Sasha shook his arm. "What is it?"

"Uhh...What I've Been Looking For from High School Musical..." He mumbled. "The Sharpay and Ryan version."

"Oh my God! I love that song! Hit it, Marco-er, Marsha." Sasha shouted.

The music played, and the two started out snapping their fingers.

"Wow...their duet is really great..." I mumbled in awe.

At the end, Connie twirled Sasha and dipped her.

"Who's next?" Marsha called out. "Jean, how about you and moi?"

"Ehh...I don't think my taste in music is the same as yours." Jean said.

"Oh yeah? I know you've listened to Bohemian Rhapsody." Marsha said pointedly, popping a hip out.

"Come on, Jean!" Connie prodded.

"Ugh, fine." Jean hauled himself onto the stage and took the mic.

Marsha lifted her head dramatically, the way they do in the music video. Jean did the same.

Jean sang Freddie Mercury's vocals, which I'll admit he was hitting pretty well.

The music picked up and Marsha sang backup vocals.

At the end, Marsha reached into her pocket and tossed glitter onto us.

"Now who's up, my beauties?"

"Ymir wants to sing," Historia piped up.

"Oh does she now?" Ymir smirked.

"What will Ymir sing?" Marsha handed her the mic.

"Kiri by MONORAL," she decided, stepping onto the stage.

I'll admit, I didn't think Kiri was a song Ymir would be interested in; the song was kind of slow and deep. I knew Ymir usually listened to things like screamo and punk rock.

But the second Ymir started singing, it sounded like she had held the lyrics inside her for too long. And she could hold a note for the entire duration.

When she finished, she hung her head.

Historia, with tears in her eyes, jumped onto the stage and hugged her. I wondered what had happened in Ymir's life that would produce this phenomenon.

"The only two left who haven't sung are Eren and Armin~!" Marsha pointed out. "Who's the next victim?"

I kind of wanted to face my fear of singing alone and do it, but I couldn't do it then.

"Eren, could you go before me?" I asked.

"Huh? Sure. I suck, though." Eren took the mic and hopped onstage. "Uhh, okay...I think I'm going to sing Bring Me to Life by Evanescence..."

I laughed a little. It wasn't that the song was funny, I just couldn't imagine Eren bellowing "Wake me up" seriously.

I will admit, Eren probably wasn't the best singer. I wouldn't be any different, but his singing still sounded appeasing to me.

"Alright Armin, you're the last to go." Marcia handed me the mic.

My trembling fingers gripped it. "Uhh...you might not have the song I want to sing," I told her.

"Do you have it on your phone? We could plug it into the machine." She offered.

I fiddled with my pockets, fumbling to retrieve my phone. It nearly slipped out of my hand. "Here. It's, uh..."

I didn't want to sound like a total anime nerd for this, but I wanted to sing something I'd been practicing for a while to get right.

"Again by Yui." I finished. "There is a karaoke version on there..."

Marcia plugged in my phone, scrolling through my music. The first guitar riffs started to play, and my stomach turned. I was probably going to throw up before it even got to the actual words.

I met eyes with Eren and I could see the confident gleam in them, urging me that I could do this.

The first few words were shaky, especially in Japanese.

But when I finished the first part of the song, everyone stood up and cheered for me. Eren was cheering the loudest.

It was at that moment my fears lifted. I could sing without feeling like there was a weight sitting on my chest.

I hit the last note, waiting for the song to fade out. I couldn't hear it over how loud everyone was cheering, even for a small group of less than ten people.

Eren jumped onto the stage, throwing his arms around me tightly. "Armin that was amazing. You sounded great!"

"Th-thanks..." I mumbled hugging him back.

"Hey, it's one minute till midnight!" Marcia shouted. "Everyone grab your special someone and get ready for that New Year's kiss!"

Eren pulled back so he could see my face. "Will you be my New Year's kiss?" He asked.

My face, already hot from the singing, grew hotter as I nodded.

The TV in the corner switched to Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve special, and the people started counting down.

"10..."

"9..."

"8..."

"7..."

"6..."

"5..."

"4..."

"3..."

"2..."

"1..."

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Eren's hands gripped my waist and he pulled me in for the kiss. Our lips collided, almost clumsily at first, but as we maintained it we kept it steady. My fingers rummaged through Eren's hair.

He drew away and murmured in my ear, "Happy New Year, Armin."

"Happy New Year, Eren." I murmured back.

* * *

 **AN:** I did a cover of Again once...I feel Armin's pain. I don't own any of these songs.


	23. Man-to-Man-to-Man Talk

EREN: The bitterness of winter stung me especially. It was the first Christmas and New Year's Eve without my mother. Despite how often she and my father told me how much of a disappointment I was, Mom was always a little better at encouraging me to follow my dreams.

I wish I'd at least had a dream to follow.

* * *

February rolled around quickly, which meant Valentine's Day was coming up.

"So Jaegerbomb-bastic, what are ya doing for Valentine's Day?" Connie asked me, not drawing his eyes away from his Call of Duty.

"I don't know...do I have to do something?" I replied reluctantly.

"Well, you're in a relationship so you probably should," Connie said, "Sasha and I are going to dinner. Do you wanna make it a double date?"

"Uhh..." I recalled how Connie and Sasha normally acted around each other and answered accordingly, "I think I'll pass."

"Well you should at least get him something." Connie pointed out.

"I already did," I told him, sliding a book out from under my pillow and waving it front of Connie. "The newest book from one of his favorite authors."

"That's nice," Connie said, still not really paying attention.

I hoped it would be.

I met Marco and Jean for lunch at the cafe around noon.

"Eren~," Marco sang as I walked in, "did you get Armin something for Valentine's Day?"

"Yeah, I got him a book." I replied.

"That's it?" Jean raised an eyebrow.

"What else am I supposed to do?" I took a seat next to them.

Marco and Jean glanced at each other.

"Aren't you two gonna...?" Jean rotated his hand to indicate I should finish his sentence.

"Fuck." Marco said simply.

My face flushed. "I don't think so," I said matter-of-factly. "Armin is uneasy with sexual stuff because he was abused as a kid. I wouldn't cross that boundary with him unless he was ready."

"How do you know he's not ready?" Marco pointed out.

"Well, I don't know if it's changed since then, but, around Christmas Armin and I were making out when I pinned him to the floor. That part scared him a little." I explained.

"I always saw Armin as more of a bottom, but maybe he's more comfortable as the top?" Marco suggested.

"Either way, I don't think we'll be doing it." I said. "Besides...I'm not really sure how guy on guy sex works..."

I assumed it was the same as straight sex (which I had had with Mikasa more than enough times), with the hole just being different.

"You stick it in his ass," Marco said.

"Wouldn't that hurt him?" I cringed slightly.

"Oh, it does hurt if you go in raw. Make sure you use lots of lube. But not too much lube, otherwise you're slipperier than a greased pig on ice." Marco said. "And you have to prepare him by sticking your fingers in there first. It'll relax his butt muscles."

I looked around, making sure no one was listening to Marco.

"Mhmm..." I mumbled.

"I would ask Armin if he thinks he's ready for it," Jean suggested.

"We've only been dating for like...less than two months." I said. "There's no way he would want to."

"There's no harm in trying." Jean shrugged.

* * *

Later that day, I watched Armin's nimble fingers sewing his pants for his Roxas cosplay.

"Hey Armin, I have a question for you," I began reluctantly.

"Yeah?" He didn't turn to face me.

"H-how would you...do you think you're...um..." I faltered.

"What?" Armin stopped sewing.

"Jean and Marco want me to ask you if you're ready to have sex." I closed my eyes.

"No," Armin interjected, "I'm sorry, but no."

"I know, I didn't want to ask because I knew you would say no," I agreed.

There was a pause in which Armin took to seeing again, then he inquired, "Have you had sex before?"

"I have with Mikasa," I confessed.

"I see," he murmured.

"Jean and Marco tried to explain gay sex to me," I chuckled lightly to hopefully convey some joking.

"It would hurt," he noted.

"I know," I said.

"I don't know if I could ever be ready..." He murmured.

"Right...I understand. It's not like you need to have sex to be in a relationship." I assured him.

"Mhmm..." He returned to seeing.

"Do you want your Valentine's Day present early?" I asked.

He stopped again. "I haven't gotten you anything!"

"You don't need to get me anything," I assured him. I sprinted down the hall, retrieved the book, and returned. "Sorry...it's not wrapped..."

I handed it to him. Armin's face fell.

"What's wrong, do you not like it?"

"I loved it," Armin replied, "uh, loved being the key word. My grandpa bought it for me for my birthday."

My stomach dropped, not because he didn't like my present, but because I didn't know when Armin's birthday was. "When...is your birthday?"

"November 3rd," he said.

My stomach dropped lower. "I...I forgot your birthday?"

"You didn't know when it was," he assured. "And I don't really like celebrating my birthday, so I didn't bother to tell you. Uh...when's yours?"

"March 30th..." I squeaked.

"Oh, that's the day I have GamaCon tickets for. I'll buy you something there since you bought me that figurine."

"N-no, that's okay. Don't celebrate my birthday, since I didn't celebrate yours." I sat down on his bed again. "How old are you?"

"I'm eighteen now."

"Ah..."

"Are you sad?"

"A little..."

"Don't be. Here, you can have the book as your Valentine's Day present." He offered.

"But it's not really a present if I bought it myself." I said.

"Don't worry about it." He shrugged.

There was a silence. I felt so guilty. "Armin, where's your favorite place to eat?"

"Uh...I don't really go out to eat." He replied.

That gave me a better idea than just taking him out to some random restaurant.

"Okay. Hey, on Valentine's Day, I wanna take you somewhere on a date." I said. My heart throbbed with excitement at how clever my idea was.

"I'm fine with any place," he said, "and it sounds good. Should I dress up?"

"If you want. I guess I will, but I need some style advice from Marco." I said. "I'm gonna take you out on the best date to make up for missing your birthday."

Later that night, I made the reservations to eat. This was going to work.

* * *

 **AN:** Sorry I kept changing the date for GamaCon, but I wanted it to progress a little faster.


	24. Valentine's Gay

EREN: "God, hold still; I swear if you're this squirmy when you fuck Armin I-" Marco muttered.

"Stop saying I'm going to have sex with Armin," I cut in, "he's uncomfortable with it."

"I'm not saying doing him would help him, but maybe he would feel better about it if he understood you weren't there to hurt him." Marco finished tying my bow tie and put his hands on his hips. "There."

"Thanks," I said, glancing in the mirror. "Where are you and Jean going tonight?"

"We're going for dinner and a show, then back to his place so we can FUCK!" Marco replied.

I started to wish I hadn't asked.

"Well, have fun with that." I said.

"Oh we will." Marco closed the door to my dorm behind him.

* * *

I knocked on the door to Armin's dorm.

Marco opened it up. "Oh Armin, someone's waiting for you."

Armin appeared, wearing a dress shirt under a blue vest with a matching tie. "Hey Eren, you look good."

"You do, too." I kissed his cheek. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah. Bye Marco, have fun with Jean," Armin closed the door behind him.

"Oh we will!" Marco repeated.

"Where are we driving to?" Armin asked.

"Your house." I answered simply.

"Why? Aren't we going anywhere?"

"Yeah, fancy restaurant," I said offhandedly.

"But why are we going to my house first?"

"You'll see."

I pulled up into Armin's driveway, the gravel crunching under the tires.

I unbuckled my seatbelt and crossed to Armin's side, opening his door for him and helping him out the way a footman would have escorted a princess. Armin blushed and giggled as he stepped out. I hooked my arm around his and escorted him into his house.

Standing by the door in a suit and tie was his grandfather.

"Bienvenue, Monsieurs, to Chez Arlert," his grandpa announced in a terribly entertaining French accent.

"Grandpa, what are you doing?" Armin questioned.

"Monsieur, I prefer to be called 'Waiter'." His grandpa answered. "Or, in a few moments, 'Chef'. May I take you to your table?"

"Sure," Armin's smile stretched from ear-to-ear. "Did you set this all up?" He whispered to me as we followed his grandpa over to the dining room table.

I pulled out Armin's chair for him, and he sat down. The table was covered in a crisp white linen, and there was an empty bottle of sparkling grape juice from New Year's on the table with a candle jutting out of it, like a makeshift candelabra. The wax slowly crept down neck of the bottle, dripping onto a sheet of wax paper underneath it.

"This is really cool..." Armin tucked a piece of his hair behind his ear.

"I'm glad you like it so far, but you haven't seen anything yet." I grinned.

Archie Arlert returned to the table with two wine glasses, filling them with grape soda. I'll admit I would've liked to try actual wine for once, but I remembered how childish I still was and I wanted to relish in that moment.

"Tonight's special will be the chef's famous spaghetti and meatballs, with homemade garlic bread. For dessert, there will be strawberry shortcake." He said.

"Sounds excellent," I replied, trying to sound refined. Armin snickered at my change of tone.

Archie left us again, and I met eyes with Armin at the end of the table.

"You're not disappointed we didn't go out anywhere, did you?" I asked.

"No, not at all! I'm actually more happy that you took the time to set this up. There's no place I like better than my own house." He replied. "Thank you."

"Oh...you're welcome," I felt the blush spreading across my cheeks.

"Aww, now I know I have to make GamaCon a better experience to top this!" He feigned whining.

I felt a pang of guilt. I still didn't forgive myself for forgetting his birthday. I guess I didn't know it until now, anyway, but his birthday was before all the chaos of Thanksgiving and my mother's death. Maybe that would've given me a sliver of happiness before it was taken from me.

But right then and there, I was more than happy. I didn't care what was going on outside of this. The world could've been crashing down around me, but as long as I was in this sanctuary with him, I knew I could make it.

Archie returned with a basket of the homemade garlic bread, and my stomach instantly crawled with excitement to consume it. He placed two plates of steaming spaghetti in front of us.

"Enjoy your meal." He said, leaving us once again.

"Thank you!" Armin grinned.

I raised my wine glass to Armin. "To-I don't know, what should we toast to?" I asked.

"Uh...how about cosplay? If I never put up that seemingly-dumb flyer, I never would have met you." Armin offered.

"Alright, to cosplay!" We clinked glasses and sipped our grape soda.

* * *

The house was silent, there was no doubt about that.

After we had finished dinner, we had offered to do the dishes while Archie went out to the gentlemen's club he often went to (no, not that kind of gentlemen's club). Armin and I figured he needed the night off, anyway.

We sat on Armin's bed, the clock in his room ticking away.

Neither of us had spoken for a good ten minutes.

I thought about what Marco and Jean had talked to me about the other day, and my stomach turned. I could never ask Armin of something he would be scared of.

"Eren?" His soft voice broke through the silence.

"Yeah?"

"Can I kiss you?"

The blush spread across my face like a forest fire. "Sure!" Maybe I sounded too eager.

Armin scooted closer to me, his hand brushing mine before lying on top. I popped my fingers up to lace between his.

He closed his eyes and his lips bumped into mine. He pulled away slightly, but I could still feel his breath on me.

We collided again, this time with more force and purpose. His slipped his hand away to wrap both arms around my neck. My hands crept to his waist, resting just above his hips.

We pulled away with a smacking sound, and when I opened my eyes I could see desire in his. Again we collided, and again, and again, the intervals at which we pulled away becoming smaller and smaller.

I pulled Armin closer to me, to the point where he was sitting in my lap. My head started to spin with all the crazy thoughts of what this could lead to, most of them stemming from my talk with Jean and Marco.

No, you can't ask that of him, I reminded myself.

Our kisses became feverish, both of us letting out a soft noise each time we pulled back.

Armin's fingers crept to my hair, pulling it softly. The heat was radiating off our skin, like the blush on Armin's face was about to seep into mine.

"Eren, I love you." He murmured.

"I love you too, Armin." I whispered back.

He made a squeaking noise in the back of his throat.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"No, I just haven't heard those words from someone other than my grandpa in a while..." He admitted softly.

"Neither have I," I added. "You were there when my mom died, when my dad beat me, when my ex-girlfriend made a surprise visit...you mean so much to me."

Armin murmured something in agreement.

I returned to kissing his lips, then gently moving to his jaw. I hesitate at first, knowing that he was uncomfortable with it at Christmas. To my surprise, he tilted his head back slightly to allow me better access.

Armin's fingers gently clenched my shirt as I moved to his neck, like he was still a little hesitant.

"It's okay, Armin, I won't hurt you." I assured him.

His fingers let up on their grip slightly.

My hands gripped his hips, but I let one slide over to the front of his pants. Armin let out a soft noise, and I froze.

"I'm sorry...can I touch you here?" I asked.

"I..." Armin faltered.

"I won't hurt you, Armin. But if you don't want me to-"

"Yes."

"Huh?"

"Go ahead," he repeated, but much quieter.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" He squeaked.

I nodded to him, a bit flustered that he was willing to do this.

With one hand I unbuckled his belt, sliding it out of the loops. I could feel his thighs trembling against my legs.

"If you want me to stop, just let me know." I murmured. He nodded.

I unzipped Armin's pants, slipping my hand into the fold of his boxers. My fingers brushed against his length, and I felt it stiffen. I gently wrapped my fingers around it, pulling it out of the slit in his pants.

Armin buried his face in my shoulder as if to hide from his own dick. I tilted my head to kiss his cheek as I slowly moved my hand along the shaft, rubbing my thumb over the tip.

Armin's fingers clenched and unclenched the fabric of my shirt. His breath was warm on my shoulder. He was panting slightly, and soft groans were coming from his throat.

"Are you doing okay?" I whispered.

"Mhm...ah!" He squeaked.

I quickened the pace of my hand movement, and his breathing grew rapid.

"Eren..." Armin groaned.

"Want me to stop?"

"No...I...I want...m-more," he managed.

I sped up, his member slick with pre-cum flowing from the tip.

At that point I realized what I was doing, and how comfortable I seemed to be doing it. Months ago, I probably never would've even thought of this moment as a possibility.

Armin let out a shrill cry, and abruptly released his hot sticky goo all over the two of us. He clenched tightly onto my shirt, shivering as he rode the aftershocks. He panted and slumped toward me, but I balanced him.

"Did it feel good?" My voice shook slightly with the embarrassment from saying those words.

"Mhmm..." Armin had his eyes squeezed shut, but he opened them slowly. "Aw man, it got everywhere..." He clapped his hands over his face, mumbling into them, "I'm sorry".

"Don't worry about it," I chuckle. "I'm gonna go wash my hands. Do you have any clothes I can borrow while these get washed?"

"Y-yeah," he answered, still a little dazed. "I'm sorry I got it everywhere..."

"Like I said, it's okay. As long as you liked it."

"I did..." He admitted, clapping his hands over his face again.

I laughed as I made my way down to the bathroom to wash my hands. My reflection in the mirror glowed back at me with the presence of my flushed cheeks.

"Well, I guess that was a step." I spoke to myself.

"A step to what?" Armin asked, appearing behind me like an apparition.

I nearly slipped and fell into the tub. "N-no one! Nothing!"

He squinted at me, before handing me some folded clothes. "Just put those ones in the blue laundry basket where mine are. Hopefully Grandpa won't find out...oh God he's gonna find out!"

"Even if he does, Archie seems like a chill dude," I said.

"I guess...but he's gonna bug me about it so hard..." Armin pulled at his hair.

I laughed softly, kissing him on the forehead. He hid in his hands again.

I changed into the pajamas and realized I wasn't going home that night.

"Shouldn't you call your dad?" Armin mentioned, but he realized his mistake in asking.

"Even if I did, he probably wouldn't care. He'd probably say something like, 'At least you're out of my hair, though I find it hard to believe you're not coming home because you're getting laid'. And he wouldn't like finding out I just gave a handjob to my boyfriend."

Armin scrunched his face up at that word. "I still can't believe you asked me out."

"Why not? You're a nice person, and you're cute."

"Because when I met you, you were straight. Did I...did I turn you gay?"

I tackled him in a hug and flopped on his bed with him. "Even if you did 'turn me gay', it wouldn't be a bad thing. I'm glad I'm your boyfriend."

He pressed his face against his pillow, escaping from my sight again.

"You're so cute. Thanks for letting me stay here." I snuggled under the blankets with him, draping them over the two of us.

"You're welcome. Goodnight Eren, I love you." He said, reaching for the light switch.

"I love you too, Armin." He curled up against me, and for the first time in a while I slept peacefully.

* * *

 **AN:** First-ever published smut chapter how about that.


	25. Marco Gets a Job at 2 AM

ARMIN: GamaCon was coming up soon and I was barely done with our Kingdom Hearts cosplay. I needed a few more things to work on with mine, and then I needed to finish Eren's. And I needed to make the two Keyblades.

I had made bad habits of not getting enough sleep in the week and working on my cosplay, but still it wasn't done. At least Historia was making her Naminé cosplay by herself.

I had also made the mistake of telling Marco about Eren's and my sexual activity on Valentine's Day, as he wouldn't stop bugging me with questions about my "now-developing" sex life.

To be quite honest, Eren and I didn't do anything else after that, we didn't have any other sexual situations with each other. I don't think I could've asked him, anyway. Not because I didn't want to, but because I was too shy to.

In return, I was bombarded with stories of Marco's and Jean's sexual escapades, which I thoroughly could've lived without.

Because I kept staying up late to work on the cosplay, I started falling asleep in class. Historia often had to tap on my shoulder in art to wake me up.

Between the cosplay, school, and part-time job at the coffee shop,

One night while working on my Keyblade, I finally made the decision to get my ass to bed early for once. Part of me nagged to keep working on it, since GamaCon was nearly two weeks away, but I silenced that part by plopping myself into my bed.

Around two in the morning I got up to pee. I swung my legs over the side of my bed and crept over to the door, trying not to wake Marco. I could hear him muttering in his sleep.

When I came back, I could still hear Marco's sleep-talking. Most often, he was muttering "Jean", followed by some sexual-sounding moans. I didn't know what he was dreaming about but it sounded nice.

Just then, I tripped over something in the room. "Shit..." I muttered, flicking on the light switch. I really hoped it wasn't my Keyblade. The moaning stopped suddenly.

I glanced toward the top bunk and saw Marco staring at me. We had locked eyes. His face was red.

"Sorry to interrupt your dream, Marco; I had to pee," I mumbled, rubbing my eyes.

"It's okay-shit-just go back to bed." Marco urged.

I tore my eyes away from his and I looked at the blanket draped over him. It looked like he had his knees up, but there was something wrong: his feet were backward, sticking out from underneath the blanket.

It might've been two AM but I could put two-and-two together.

My face reddened as I realized it. "Marco, what the fuck? Is that Jean under there?"

The blanket shifted and Jean indeed popped up. "Armin, go back to sleep." He demanded. I caught a glimpse of Marco's dick as the blanket had gone up.

I covered my face with my hands and turned off the light, tripping into my bed. I pulled the blanket over me and whispered, "What the fuck" repeatedly.

"Are you sure it's okay now? Do I have to go back to my room?" Jean asked skeptically.

"It's fine, just keep doing it," Marco said.

I plugged my ears for the rest of the night.

* * *

 **AN** : Idk short chapter because there's some dramatic stuff I wanna write and it's coming up ooh boy.


	26. Dearly Beloved

ARMIN: I swung my arm, and with it, the finished Keyblade I had crafted for my cosplay.

I admired myself in the mirror, picking at my gelled hair spiked up in a large cowlick like Roxas's. It drooped slightly, and I wondered how the people in that game could possibly defy gravity with their chunks of triangular hair.

Eren as Sora wasn't much easier to gel, since Sora's hair was grouped a lot thicker. But he stood there next to me, brandishing his Keyblade. "Ready to go?" Eren asked.

"I wanna fix my hair real quick." I grabbed the bottle of gel, heading down to the bathroom while Eren followed.

"I'm gonna pee one more time before we have to go." Eren said, locking himself in a stall.

There was some silence (well, minus the sound of his stream hitting the toilet water), until suddenly Eren screamed really loud and let loose a few f-bombs. A banging noise came from inside his stall. I stopped trying to fix my hair and ran to his stall.

"Eren! Are you okay?!" I shrieked.

"I GOT MY FUCKING DICK CAUGHT IN THIS GIANT ZIPPER!" He shouted.

Though it was much easier to laugh at after it happened, it was actually pretty scary when it happened.

"Did you fix it?" I asked.

"Yeah..." He seethed, "damn, this is some shitty costume design...I mean, you did an awesome job on it, but I don't see why this guy has to have a huge zipper down his front."

He unlocked the stall door and washed his hands. I washed the gel off mine. "Ready to go now?" He asked.

"Yeah, we gotta go pick up Naminé-I mean Historia, first." I reminded him.

We traveled together down to the girls' dorms. A few people stared at us, but some of the people who knew us complimented my work. I thanked them in a series of mumbles.

Though there was no snow on the ground, the weather was still cold, and we didn't think to bring winter coats on our way down.

Historia was waiting outside the girls' dorms under a large tree, its bare limbs just nubbly with the new spring buds. She wore a silver coat over her white cosplay dress. Her legs were bare and she only wore sandals. Her feet were tinged blue slightly. Ymir was next to her, leaned against the tree trunk.

"How long were you waiting out here for?" I asked her.

"Oh not that long," she answered simply.

"Don't make my girlfriend freeze out here," Ymir said in her gravelly voice.

"Sorry," I offered to Historia, but she shook her head to dismiss my apology.

"I'll be back tonight babe," Historia pecked Ymir on the lips and Ymir nodded.

"My car is back at the boys' dorms." Eren said.

"You didn't think to drive here?" Ymir questioned. "Boys are dumb."

"Let's just wait inside until you come back with it." Historia offered me.

"What, leaving me out?" Eren pouted comically.

"You have to drive, dummy!" I shrieked playfully.

Eren's cheeks were red. "Aren't you coming with me, Armin?"

Now mine were redder than Eren's jumpsuit. "Sure...we'll be back, Historia."

"I'll be waiting inside," she decided.

Eren and I, both feeling stupid for not thinking of driving down there, trudged all the way back to get his car. When we jumped inside, I turned the heat on full blast. Eren backed out and drove back to get Historia.

Historia was smirking as she got into the car. "Hope you guys don't make any dumb decisions at GamaCon. Guess that's why I'm going, though."

"Got the tunes, Armin?" Eren asked.

I held up my phone, plugging the AUX cord into the jack.

I decided to make them listen to both English and Japanese versions of the Kingdom Hearts openings by Utada Hikaru. I also had them listen to Dearly Beloved from the menu screen of the game.

"I'd love to learn Dearly Beloved on the piano," Historia said.

"You play?" I asked.

"Yeah, I have since I was about six." She informed us.

"Hey, how long have you and Ymir been dating?" Eren asked.

"Let's see...about two years?" She figured.

"Wow, really? So you guys got together in your senior year of high school?" I added.

"Yeah, we met in our junior year. How long have you two been together now?"

"About...three months? Since December fifth," I answered.

"Wow, almost two months in and you two already had sex?" Historia asked, and I nearly choked.

"Who told you we had sex?! We haven't had sex!" I cried indignantly.

"Oh, I must've heard him wrong." Historia mumbled.

"Who?" I demanded.

"Marco."

"Of course." Eren rolled his eyes. "Why is he so interested in our sex life? Uh, not that there really is one..."

"I don't know, but he only told me and Ymir...I think..." She said. "Sorry, I didn't mean to find that out..."

"It's okay, and if you must know, Eren gave me a handjob..." I explained, blushing as I said it.

"Ooh...was it nice?" Historia wiggled her brows at me.

"I-I...yeah," I mumbled into the collar of my shirt.

"If you wanna know something about me, the first time Ymir fingered me was before we even started dating. We were at her house and before I knew it she had her hand up my skirt." Historia shrugged.

"Did you want to?" I asked.

"Yeah, I had been giving her some signs earlier in the week. I honestly didn't know she was actually gonna do it. She asked me out shortly after that." She said.

"Have you two gone all the way?" Eren asked.

"Typical of you to be curious," Historia smirked, but she seemed alright with telling us.

"N-no, sorry, it's not like that!" Eren blushed.

"I know," she teased, "and yes, on multiple occasions. The last time we did it was, of course, Valentine's Day. She bought me some really cute underwear, holy shit. It's all red with this cute lace...anyway, I'm getting off topic."

Historia seemed so comfortable talking about this kind of thing. She was almost on the same level as Marco, but without making it seem like the only thing that mattered to her.

"Uh...how do two girls do it?" I asked, my voice meek.

"A lot of different ways," she answered. "Fingering, eating out, sometimes just rubbing together..."

The car was suddenly too hot, so I opened the window.

"What's wrong?" Eren asked, looking over and seeing how flushed my face was.

Historia laughed in the backseat.

* * *

We arrived at GamaCon about an hour after we had left. The three of us stepped out of the car. Historia left her coat inside, so we had to run to the doors in order not to freeze.

Once inside, the convention hall was warm with the heat of so many people.

"Hey, wanna see something cool?" Historia asked, flipping open her sketchbook. She turned to a page on which she drew a spiral staircase with a boy running up the stairs, an image from the opening to Kingdom Hearts 2.

"Dude that's so awesome," I gaped.

"Hey, you three! Can I get your picture?" Someone cosplaying as Link asked.

"Yeah sure!" I agreed. The three of us smushed closer together. Eren and I pointed our Keyblades toward the camera, while Historia struck a pose.

The shutter snapped and the cosplayer thanked us.

I had approximately $150 to spend here, so I had to pick things I really wanted. Then I remembered it was Eren's birthday, and I had to get him a present. I guess I could just spend all my money on that.

"Hey, Historia," I whispered as Eren was perusing a booth selling actual swords and knives, "it's Eren's birthday today, and I want to get him something here. What do you think he'd like?"

"It's his birthday?" Historia almost shouted.

"Yeah," I hissed.

"Uh...I might not be of much help to you. I was gonna suggest you give him a blowjob but-"

"Historia!" I squealed, turning red.

"Sorry, sorry," she laughed. "Well he seems to like that knife he's looking at. Go ask him if he wants you to buy it for him."

"Okay." I wiped my hands on my pants and joined Eren at the booth. "Do you like that?"

"Yeah, I guess. I wasn't gonna spend my money on it, though. And I'm not sure I can take it back to campus." He answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I wanna buy it for you for your birthday present." I replied like it should've been obvious.

"What? You don't have to buy me anything." He shook his head.

"Yes I do!" I insisted. "Do you want that knife?" It was a cool-looking knife: a three-inch steel blade etched with a tiny Western dragon. The handle was a dark polished wood, carved to look like the dragon's tail. It looked like a weapon from The Ancient Wind.

"If you want to buy it for me, sure then," he shrugged.

"Hey, can I buy this?" I asked the seller.

"Are you over eighteen?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Do you have $130?"

My heart dropped into my stomach. I'd only have $20 to spend, but that was still enough if I wanted to buy something small.

"I'll take it." I handed him all the cash I had. He gave me a twenty in exchange, then took the knife from the display case and sheathed it. He wrapped it up in some protective paper, taping it shut. Then he put it in a sleek black box and handed it to me. I handed the black box to Eren. "Happy birthday."

He smiled at me, throwing his arm around my shoulder and walking away from the booth.

* * *

We lay back against the wall, watching other cosplayers pass us in the huge atrium.

"Man, I'm pretty tired. Wanna go home now?" Historia asked.

"Yeah, I'm getting hungry. Let's stop for McDonald's or something." I agreed.

A small group of people dressed in Kingdom Hearts cosplay approached us, and the one dressed like Riku asked, "Can you guys battle us with your Keyblades?"

"Sure," Eren and I stood up. The kid dressed as Riku asked Historia to film the action, and handed their phone to her.

"And...action!" Historia announced.

Eren and the Riku kid collided their blades together. I flinched every time Eren made a rough swing with it. I had tried my best to make the Keyblades battle-ready, in case something like this did happen (actually, I made them battle-ready because I wanted to play around with them).

The Riku kid swung their Keyblade, and with a loud WHACK, Eren's Keyblade was torn in half. The other half went flying and skittered on the floor.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" The kid wailed.

"It's okay, it was bound to happen," I assured them. I picked up the cardboard tube and examined it. I didn't really wanna try to fix it.

"Thanks for the battle. Sorry about the Keyblade, though," the kid said.

"You're welcome, and really it's fine." Eren waved his hand. "Have a good rest of the day."

"You too!" The kid took their phone, and the group moved on.

"Well, I guess this is a good sign to go home," I sighed.

"Yeah. Nice work, though. I almost expected the Keyblade to break with the first hit." Eren clapped me on the back.

"Thanks," I smiled.

* * *

The hamburger steamed in my lap, and I tore into it ravenously.

"Did you have a good birthday, Eren?" I asked, my mouth full.

"Heck yeah I did," he said, sipping his coke. "I got to go to GamaCon with my cosplay partner plus one, I got to fight with a replica of the sickest-looking weapon ever, and I got a cool knife! Oh, and I got McDonald's."

I laughed. "Sounds pretty good to me."

"That Keyblade fight was sick," Historia agreed, "I wish that person could've sent me the video."

"Yeah me too...oh well, I've heard that memories exist clearer in your head if you see them without looking through something else, like a camera." I said.

"That's interesting," Historia mused, shoving several fries into her mouth.

We pulled up in front of the girls' dorms and dropped Historia off. "Thanks guys! Happy birthday, Eren!" She said as she waved to us.

"Thanks for coming with us! See ya!" I waved back at her.

When returned to our dorms, we went down to mine to change out of the cosplay.

"So, when's the next con?" Eren asked.

"It's in May, the local Comic Con." I replied.

"Sounds great. What's our cosplay gonna be?" He wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

"Hmm..." I pulled up my phone, which contained a list of my cosplays. I checked "Roxas" off the list. "Looks like I wanted to cosplay Hawkeye."

"Aw sweet man, I wanna be Deadpool." Eren grinned.

"Deadpool isn't an avenger," I laughed.

"Don't think I don't know that, huh?" He teased, kissing my neck. I giggled.

"Fine, you can be Deadpool. Besides, I ship Clint with Natasha, and I don't think you'd want to cosplay Black Widow." I said.

His eyes widened. "Scratch Deadpool, I wanna be Black Widow."

"What?"

"I said, I wanna cosplay Black Widow." He said.

"Like a gender-bent version?" I asked.

"No." He said simply, looking me in the eyes with utmost sincerity.

I burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" He smirked, attacking me with kisses.

"I just didn't think you wanted to go in drag!" I cackled.

"It's not drag, is it?" He asked. He didn't seem like he'd be bothered if it was.

"Well, technically yeah," I said.

"I am gonna be the hottest Black Widow there." He told me. "Buy me fake boobs, Armin. And do my makeup."

I laughed harder. "What size?"

"What size are Scarlet Johansson's boobs?"

"I don't know, C's maybe? I don't know breast size!" I squealed.

"Buy me the best set of fake boobs you can find." He grinned maniacally.

"I love you so much," my eyes were misty with tears.

"I love you too," he agreed, "you could say you're my dearly beloved."

"GAAAH!" I squealed again.

I couldn't answer with how hard I was laughing, but I wanted to tell Eren he was my dearly beloved, too.

At that moment, I heard loud voices coming from down the hall. The door swung open and Marco was standing there.

"Hey!" Marco breathed heavily, "get out now unless you wanna watch us fuck."

Eren's and my eyes widened, and we hurried down to his room.

* * *

Eren closed the door behind us, the room being empty except for the two of us.

"Wonder where Connie is..." He mumbled. "Oh well."

He lunged at me again, peppering my face with kisses. We stumbled clumsily over to his bed, falling into the bunk.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a small rainbow gift bag on his dresser. I stopped kissing him for a moment. It seemed to be the first time he noticed it, too. He sat up, taking the bag off the dresser. He rummaged around inside it, pulling out a card.

"'Happy birthday, Eren. Use wisely. Love, Marco and Jean'." He read.

He stuck his hand back in the bag, pulling out a string of condoms.

I laughed loudly. "Holy shit."

"Wait there's more," Eren pulled out a blue tube that looked like a bottle of shampoo. "'Lusty's Love Grease, water-based lube'..."

"Stop reading it out loud!" I covered my face with my hands.

"I don't know about you, but I don't really want to use this right now..." Eren admitted.

"Oh...yeah, me neither." I agreed.

I noticed another card lying on his dresser. "Who's that from?"

Eren picked up the card, and his face paled.

I sat up straighter. "What is it?"

"It's from Mikasa..." He mumbled. "And it doesn't have a stamp, so that means she must've delivered it herself."

He opened it, his hands shaking. "'Happy birthday, Eren. Please know that you're always mine, and you always will be. Love, Mikasa'..." He scrunched his eyebrows together, tearing the card apart.

"Eren..." I faltered.

"I feel like we're being watched," he hissed in my ear. He looked around, then said, "She can't have me, she never will. You hear that Mikasa? You can't have me!"

* * *

 **AN** : I'm actually playing Kingdom Hearts now (finally) and I still don't understand how Sora didn't get his dick stuck in his zipper all the time when he had that red jumpsuit.


	27. Rain on Our Parade

EREN: Ever since Mikasa had appeared on campus to deliver that card, I had been paranoid she'd show up again.

In the meantime, I tried busying myself with Armin. I felt bad that every time we hung out we had to do it in his dorm, but I had the feeling of being watched in mine. My suspicions were confirmed when Connie somehow managed to find a camera hidden behind my dresser.

* * *

The weather was unusually warm for April, almost like summer, and around this time our town was holding an LGBTQA+ pride parade and festival. I insisted on going to it with Armin to keep myself out of my dorm.

On the day of the parade, Armin met me out in the hall wearing a pansexual pride t-shirt while I wore the "Love is Love" t-shirt Marco let me borrow.

"Ready to go, Eren?" He asked.

"Yep." I smiled, lacing my fingers between his.

Suddenly there was a rapid thudding down the hall. Marco was clad in his Halloween costume, The Flaming Homosexual, for the parade. Thank God he had washed that mysterious stain out of the jumpsuit. He also put on some rainbow boxer shorts to censor himself, though knowing Marco he probably wouldn't have given the chance.

"Who's ready for the pride parade?" Marco waved two rainbow flags in the air.

"I guess no one's more ready than you." I pointed out.

Jean strode past us toward Marco. He was tugging at a knit rainbow scarf that was probably Marco's.

"This scarf is itchy," he said.

"Oh don't complain, my Aunt Lola knitted it especially for you!" Marco said.

"Your Aunt Lola can't knit for shit." Jean smirked.

"You got that right!" Marco agreed enthusiastically.

* * *

The parade was just like any other parade I'd been to as a kid, but a lot more colorful.

I'd never realized the community of LGBTQA+ people was so big in our little town.

"Hey Armin, Eren!" I heard a shrill voice call out to us. We turned around and found Historia pulling Ymir behind her. Ymir was wearing a black tank with a dripping rainbow heart on it and Historia wore a rainbow crop top and tutu.

"I didn't think I'd see you guys here!" Historia said.

"Why not?" Armin laughed. "You guys look awesome."

"Thanks! You too!" Historia beamed.

"There are less homophobes this year," Ymir observed, "last year Historia and I were this close to getting attacked by some crazy bitch."

"Damn..." I whispered. "I haven't seen anyone being homophobic."

"Most of them are over from where we came." Historia jabbed her thumb backward. "They're all being blocked off by the police. It makes me so confused that people would purposely come to a pride parade to be mean to the people trying to celebrate themselves and be happy."

"Yeah that really doesn't make a lot of sense," I agreed, "like why would you go out of your way to spite people?"

"Wanna make fun of them with me?" Ymir smirked.

"I don't wanna provoke them...but okay!" Historia smiled. They ran off together.

"Armin, wanna go with them?" I asked.

"What if they get violent?" He knit his brows.

"I won't let them hurt you," I told him.

He smiled at me. "Okay."

We followed Historia and Ymir to a partition where a large crowd of people were chanting and shouting slurs. Some of them held signs that read awful messages.

It disturbed me most that some people had brought their kids with them, kids so young they didn't understand the messages on the signs they were holding. The police were holding them back, occasionally interfering if someone got too close. It didn't look like a lot of police officers were around, there was one about twenty feet away from us and the next one was just a tiny dot in the distance.

Ymir flipped them off and stuck her tongue out at them, then swept Historia off her feet and kissed her. The two of them took selfies in front of the crowd. The peoples' chanting got louder. Some moms covered their kids' eyes.

I smiled at Armin and wrapped my arms around him, kissing him on the lips. His arms hugged me around my neck. My grip grew tighter and the people grew louder.

Suddenly I felt things being pelted at me. I let go of Armin and opened my eyes, realizing they were throwing rocks. I pushed Armin behind me protectively. Ymir and Historia ran off giggling.

The rocks were pretty small and didn't hurt that badly when they hit me. But then I saw her.

I wanted to throw up the second we met eyes. She stared at me with her cold dark ones.

"Mikasa..." I barely uttered.

She held up her hand, which contained a brick. Her cold gray eyes zeroed in on me, locking onto me like a target. But they looked slightly unfocused, as if to be staring at something else.

The world seemed to be turning slower. My body felt like it was trapped in quicksand as I turned around, trying to push Armin in the opposite direction and get running.

"Eren!" Armin's shrill voice screamed. I looked behind me and saw Mikasa had thrown the brick.

I closed my eyes, bracing for the impact...but I felt nothing.

She missed...thank God...

But there was no relief. I glanced at Armin, seeing the blood trickle down his face and the cold emptiness in his eyes.

He was falling, and I could barely scream his name as I watched him lose consciousness.

* * *

 **AN** : I do really love Mikasa, I just wanted to experiment with her character. And I know it's cliché, but what would a yaoi fanfic be without someone coming close to death?


	28. Guilt

EREN: The next ten hours were a blur of sirens, screaming, and tears.

I shook Armin's shoulders, the noise of the crowd around us becoming muffled in my ears. His eyes were closed, and the brick had created a huge gash in his forehead. I cradled him in my arms, escaping from the crowd and carrying him over to the police. The police contacted the nearby ambulance, and I rode with him to the hospital.

"Armin...Armin..." I muttered his name over and over again, but he didn't respond. He looked lifeless in the gurney the paramedics put him on.

When we arrived at the hospital, they inserted a various assortment of IVs and needles into his frail arms. He was scheduled to get the wound stitched up quickly, and he was in a coma from severe trauma to the head.

They didn't let me stay in the room while he was getting stitches, no matter how hard I tried to protest.

I sat in the waiting lobby of the hospital, staring at the ceiling. That's when I remembered I should call Archie and tell him what happened.

When Archie arrived, the doctors were finished stitching Armin's head up.

Upon seeing his grandson's pallid and unconscious face, Archie broke down and cried for the first time. I'd never seen him look anything less than happy before.

"I've only cried twice in my life over Armin, once when he was born, and now this...I don't want to see my grandson die before he sees me die." Archie said.

"I understand...it's my fault, we shouldn't have been provoking those people..." I said, but then I remembered meeting eyes with Mikasa. At that moment, I understood why her eyes were unfocused: I hadn't been her target, Armin had. "Oh God, it really is my fault..." I groaned.

"I'm sure it isn't," Archie placed his hand on my shoulder.

"No, it is..." I said, "Mikasa was there, she threw a brick at him. Oh God, Armin...I'm so sorry..." I broke down and started crying, laying my head on his sheets. My fingers picked through my hair nervously.

"Eren, it really isn't your fault." Archie reassured me.

"It might not be, but it feels like it. If I hadn't entered Armin's life, I wouldn't have brought my crazy-ex girlfriend with me." I said.

The room was silent then, the only noises were coming from the machines that kept Armin alive. The heart monitor sounded like a countdown, ticking away the seconds he had to live...

The door to the room opened again, and in stepped Marco, Jean, Historia, Ymir, Connie, and Sasha. I was surprised the nurse let that many people in at once, and with them wearing such a strange display of clothes since they hadn't changed out of their pride clothes.

"Guys," I croaked, standing up.

"We heard what happened to Armin," Historia said, holding out a bunch of flowers to me. "We shouldn't have asked you to come with us to annoy those people..."

"Which one threw the brick? Was it that blond lady with the huge sign that said 'God hates you'? Ugh, why do they always gotta bring God into this? God doesn't wanna deal with your homophobic shit...anyway, I'm ready to find her and give her what she deserves for this." Ymir offered.

"No, no, it wasn't her," I said, "it was my crazy ex-girlfriend Mikasa." That's when I told them the whole story, about everything Mikasa had done to torment me up to this point. Of course Jean knew Mikasa, but I'm sure he was surprised when he found out how terrifying she could be.

"Whoever this bitch is, she's going down," Ymir said.

"No, you can't fight her," I pleaded, "she's like a third-degree black belt or something. She's super vicious and she's apparently starting to get into espionage."

"All the more reason we should fight her," Sasha insisted.

"No, I can't let her hurt any of my other friends! If I'm going to take her down, I want to do it myself. She's my problem, and I have to get rid of her." I said.

My friends shifted around in their chairs if they were sitting, or on their feet if standing. "We understand, Eren. But if you need any help at all, just know we're here to give it to you." Historia spoke for the rest of them. They mumbled in agreement.

"Thanks guys," I smiled. "Armin would appreciate it, too."

"So, do you have a plan to take Mikasa down?" Jean asked.

"Not yet," I admitted, "it's gonna take a lot if I wanna send her to prison. I should've saved every piece of evidence..."

"I, uh, actually still have the camera," Connie raised his hand.

"Why?" I asked, but I felt the hope rising in my chest.

"Because it looked too expensive to just throw out. It's probably got her fingerprints on it somewhere." Connie said.

Ymir was on her phone now, and her eyes lit up. "I got something!"

"What?" I felt more hope bubbling in me.

"Look at this selfie we took," Ymir said, shoving her phone in my face.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Is that girl in the red tank top holding the brick behind her back Mikasa?" She pointed her out.

"Oh my God, that's her," I nearly shrieked with excitement.

Though I hadn't come up with a plan yet, I knew what we had would bring Mikasa down.

* * *

 **AN** : Another chapter dump for y'all.


	29. April Showers

EREN: Without Armin, my life had no meaning.

I dragged myself between classes and work for three weeks, losing my reason to keep a glimmer of hope that Armin would make it.

He was in stable condition, but even despite that he could be in an endless sleep forever. He'd grow thinner and weaker from lack of food, weaning away until he was nothing.

And to top that, it hurt to know Mikasa was still running amok, Armin's stone-cold slaughterer was free and living comfortably.

"Eren, calm down man," Connie's voice cut through my delusion, and I snapped out of my daydream.

"Sorry, was I growling again?" I asked. I had somehow gotten into a habit of expressing anger subconsciously.

"Do you really think this is gonna work?" I asked.

"What, your plan to catch Mikasa? Yeah, I think so..." He didn't sound sure. "Armin's gonna be okay."

"Mm." I wasn't so sure.

* * *

Isabel and Farlan visited Armin a couple days after he had been attacked.

Isabel's hand was gently clasped around Armin's stone-cold one, and Farlan just stood in the corner scratching his head.

"Who would do such a thing?" Farlan muttered over and over.

"My ex-girlfriend Mikasa," I gritted my teeth, "she's been stalking me ever since I dumped her months ago. She just won't let go of me."

"She got away with it?" Isabel asked.

"Unfortunately," I agreed.

"How do we take her down?" She asked coldly.

"I...I have a plan, but I'm not sure if it'll work."

"What is it?" Farlan seemed to snap out of his trance.

My body was shaking, but I managed to tell them.

* * *

My hands trembled and I fidgeted as I waited in the coffee shop for Mikasa to arrive.

The bell jingled and she entered with an icy gaze. She met eyes with me, and cold daggers pierced my skin.

"Eren," she said, suddenly melting and taking up a seat across from me.

"Mikasa, hey..." I wiped my hands on my pants, but I stopped since I knew she probably understood my nervous gesture.

She responded in a way that acknowledged my movement, "Don't be nervous, Eren, I'm not after you; I've taken care of what needed to disappear."

"I know..." I mumbled, "I'm going to miss him..."

"Miss him?" She questioned.

"Armin Arlert is dead because of you. You're going to be charged with homicide." I stated.

The coffee shop fell silent.

"But...all that doesn't matter. I've been thinking since he died...all of that, he, was just a phase. I thought I would be happy with him, but I realized I'm not. Leaving you was a mistake, a mistake I'm willing to correct. I'm sorry I didn't see it sooner. Please, take me back..."

Mikasa squinted at me. "I don't believe it. He's not dead, is he?"

"Yes, he is. Look, I have a picture of him in the casket right here." I flipped through my camera roll, finding the picture. She snatched my phone from me, squinting again. Her gray eyes flickered.

"I see...so he is dead." She eased back, sliding my phone back to me across the table. "But I don't believe you still want me back."

"What can I do to prove I want you back?" I asked.

She pursed her lips, thinking. "Marry me."

I choked, but I played it out as coughing. "W-why of course I would...when?"

"In two years' time, we'll meet at the St. Sina church to get married." She decided.

"W-why not now? I mean, I can hardly wait to be married to you."

I received a text at that moment, from Connie, reading, "What the hell man? This isn't part of the plan!"

I couldn't answer to it since Mikasa would see me plotting right in front of her, so I just swiped the notification away.

"Eren, I want to have a big wedding," she said, stroking my hand. Whenever she wanted something from me, she would lightly stroke my hand, sending shivers throughout me.

"We can still have a big wedding, but I want it to be made legal now. Till death do us part, right? What if I died in two years? Stohess University is in the middle of shady part of the city, overrun with thugs. There's a huge gang here, you know, the Titans? I at least want to be your legal husband before I meet an untimely death." I explained.

She stayed silent for a moment, tapping her fingers on my hand. "If you buy me a ring, I'll consider it. It was nice talking to you, Eren. I'm glad I finally have you back after all this."

With that, Mikasa took her bag, popped open her umbrella, and left the shop.

I sighed. There was a hand on my shoulder, and I met eyes with Connie.

"You're gonna regret this," he shook his head.

"I'll do anything if she gets thrown in prison for this. At least we're closer." I stated. "Hey Farlan, nice work on that dummy. I can't believe she bought it."

He turned around from the bar, a latte foam mustache above his lip. He licked it off. "Glad I could help you."

"And Connie? Excellent photoshop skills." I high-fived him. "But it's not time to celebrate yet. Do you at least have her confession on tape?"

Connie held up his phone, playing back the voice recording: "I've taken care of what needed to disappear".

"This is going great, guys. Now, I need to find a ring and a minister. Got any ideas?"

"My aunt Lola has a really nice wedding ring from her third husband. The asshole left her after he found out she was a dude." Marco piped up from his seat across from Jean.

"And my dad is a minister." Jean agreed.

"Perfect." I grinned. Everything was falling into place so nicely, it almost seemed too good to be true.


	30. For Better or For Worse

EREN: I fidgeted while I waited for Mikasa to arrive on location. The ring in my pocket seemed to weigh me down, pulling me closer to Hell.

What if this didn't work? Then I'd legally be married to Mikasa, and Armin could live heartbroken or just die.

"Hello Eren," Mikasa sighed as she saw me.

"Oh, hey," I waved to her.

"What did you call me here for?" She asked, though I could tell she knew.

I sighed. "Mikasa, I never should've let you go. I love you, I love you so much. Despite everything, I'm willing to protect you from being arrested. I'll clear your name, do whatever it takes for us to be happy." I clasped her hands.

"Oh Eren, I know that," she swooned. "It was foolish of me to even kill Armin, I knew you'd come right back to me eventually."

"Yes, but you snatched me just in time. If you had bided your time any longer, Armin could've done who-knows-what to me. It was wrong of me to even think I was gay, or whatever." I squeezed her hands and gazed into her steel eyes. It hurt me to even think that I had once enjoyed looking into them, but now they were cold as a corpse.

"Mikasa..." I dropped to my knee. "Will you marry me?" I presented her Marco's aunt's ring. It was kind of a gaudy-looking ring, but Mikasa seemed to like it.

"Of course, Eren," she dropped to her knees too, kissing me with poisoned lips.

My stomach knotted. I hoped to God this plan would work.

* * *

"Marco, what if this goes wrong? Then I'll be legally married to Mikasa and Armin will be gone forever!" I paced furiously, running my hands through my hair.

"Stop messing your hair up, I'll have to use more gel-oh my God...this is lube..." Marco whispered.

"Ew, no wonder my hair is slimy instead of hard..." I was about to wipe my hands on my shirt when Marco shoved a towel at me. He plopped another towel on my head and began rubbing the lube out of it.

"I can fix this," he said.

I groaned. "Marco, I can't do this..."

"Yes you can," he said, "you have to. For Armin."

I nodded, feeling tears rolling down my cheek.

Marco kissed my forehead, the way my mom used to. I almost started crying worse.

"It's gonna work out." He promised. Then he pursed his lips and said, "I got lube in my mouth...bleh."

* * *

My life had been nothing but fidgeting for the past several days, but now I fidgeted even worse.

Everyone showed up at the wedding, wearing clothes I'd never imagined them in, including Archie.

"Are you ready, son?" Archie asked me.

"Honestly, no. But I'm willing to do this for Armin." I told him.

"Armin would be proud." Archie nodded.

I stepped up to the altar, waiting for Mikasa to arrive. St. Sina church seemed to be on its toes, waiting for her.

The organ music struck up, and my skin prickled.

I turned around to see her wafting down the aisle, in a floor-length white dress. I didn't imagine this day would come so quickly, even if it was a setup. In high school, I would've dreamed to see her wearing this ensemble, but now she looked like a ghost ready to haunt me forever.

She met with me at the altar, and Jean's dad began the process.

We were required to sign a certificate, and I watched eagerly as she picked up the pen.

I fidgeted with my gloves, which I would be required to remove when she slipped the ring over my finger.

I signed after her, nearly dropping the pen. I set it aside, and it promptly disappeared from the table as Farlan swiped it from underneath.

At last, we had to say our vows. Of course we had to carry this on the best we could to make it seem legit.

Mikasa was the first to say "I do", and I nearly stumbled over my words as I said them: "I do."

Mikasa slipped the ring over my finger, and it felt like a tiny vice.

My stomach twisted as the words, "You may now kiss the bride" were said, and Mikasa pressed her lips to mine.

For better or for worse, this had to work.


	31. Till Death Do Us Part

EREN: "Well, it took her a while, but Dr. Zoe managed to recover some fingerprints from the brick taken at the scene." Officer Smith told me. "And you're in luck: the fingerprints found on the brick just happened to match the ones on the pen. And the blood on the brick was also analyzed to find it matches Armin's blood."

"Thanks, Officer Smith." I said, my heart doing a flip.

"How'd you get into this mess, anyway?" The dapper blond man asked me.

"It's a long story," I admitted, "but Mikasa has always been a little...off. I never thought of reporting her because I was just a dumb, love-struck teenager."

"It's a shame she would attack Armin," a woman's voice said behind me. I turned and came face-to-face with a woman with short blond hair.

"I'm sorry, but how do you know Armin?" I asked.

"My husband Mike teaches art at Stohess University. He always says Armin is an exceptional student. I didn't meet him personally, but he drew me as a model for one of the classes a while back." She said. "I'm Nanaba Zacharius."

"I see, nice to meet you," I shook her hand. Something ran across my mind reminding me that Armin had said something about sketching nude models, and I suddenly realized Armin had seen this woman naked before. She was attractive enough at the surface, but at the thought of what was beneath the surface, I blushed immensely.

"Realized Armin's seen me naked, huh?" She smiled and laughed.

"Sorry ma'am," I mumbled.

"No need. Anyway, we'll bring Mikasa to justice. What do you want us to do next?" She asked.

"Well, we need to send the Dean of Students at Harvard a special letter..." I said.

* * *

I stood outside the building where Mikasa would have her life ruined, wiping my hands on my pants. Officer Zacharius stood next to me, watching amusedly.

"You know, you're a pretty clever kid." She said.

"You think so? I don't...this was just some elaborate scheme for revenge." I explained.

"Still, it takes guts to marry a murderer for the sake of love." Officer Zacharius mused.

"Love?" I questioned, wondering how she knew.

"Well why else would you get married in search of revenge?" She shrugged. "It's a stretch even for friendship."

"I do love him..." I admitted.

Inside that stuffy room, in front of the Dean of Students, Mikasa would be read an anonymous letter delivered by Officer Erwin Smith and forensic scientist Dr. Hanji Zoe telling the Dean of Mikasa's misdeeds. He would be presented with the audio and photographic files of Mikasa confessing her crime. If she claimed innocence, Officer Smith and Dr. Zoe would present the biological evidence, undeniable proof that she committed the crime. Mikasa would be expelled from Harvard, and put on trial. If found guilty, which she would be, she would be sentenced to prison.

The doors opened, and Officer Smith paraded a handcuffed Mikasa to the police car. She glared at me.

"Eren! You can prove me innocent, can't you?!" She insisted.

"I'm sorry Mikasa, but till death do us part. And consider this death." I showed her the marriage certificate, and ripped it in half in front of her eyes. "Oh, and this was never actually legal, so I won't have to file for divorce. See you in prison, love."

Mikasa shrieked out loud, but Officer Smith shoved her into the back of the car and slammed the door.

"Nice work, son. You have a pretty crafty mind; should we put you on file?" Officer Smith jested.

"No sir," I shook my head, "this is my last misdeed."

Suddenly my phone rang, and I picked up. "Hello? Oh hey, Connie. Yeah, Mikasa's detained-what?"

Connie's voice was tinny, but I could make it his words just fine: "Armin's awake."


	32. Blue Skies

EREN: Officer Zacharius rushed me to the hospital, and I thanked her for her services.

"You're welcome, kid," she said, saluting me off.

The elevator wouldn't move fast enough. Shaking with anticipation, the elevator dinged and the doors opened. I nearly slipped running down the hall to Armin's room. The door was open, and everyone was standing around Armin's bed. I walked in, and connected with his bright blue eyes.

"Armin," I whispered.

"Hey Eren," he murmured.

I knelt at his bedside, grasping his hand. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay...what happened? I saw Mikasa, and then everything went dark. My head hurts a lot..." He said.

"Mikasa hit you with a brick," I said, "but it's okay, she's gone for good now."

"It worked?" Connie asked.

"Yeah, she'll be in prison for a while. Well, she's going on trial first, but they won't be able to prove her innocent." I explained.

"Thank God," Ymir muttered.

"We're proud of you, Eren." Jean said.

"Yeah, you took that bitch down practically on your own!" Historia agreed.

"Hey, Eren, what's that on your finger?" Armin pointed weakly.

"Oh, uh, funny story..." I sat down and began telling the tale.

* * *

Armin's eyes were misty with tears. "I can't believe you married her for me."

"It's not legal," I assured him, "besides, I'm all yours." I leaned in and kissed him on the lips. The beeping of the heart monitor increased, and everyone laughed.

Armin pulled away, blushing.

"Take it easy, okay? The doctor said you'll be able to go home in a couple of days." Sasha said.

"I'm gonna have so much homework...oh my God, what day is it?" Armin exclaimed.

"Easy," I warned, "and it's May 2nd. Why do you ask?"

"Ohh...Comic Con is on the 31st," he whined. "I'm not gonna have enough time to make cosplay."

"It's okay, we don't have to go to Comic Con." I assured him.

"But I wanted to go, and I was going to make you a Black Widow cosplay." He said.

"Eren was gonna cosplay Black Widow? Like a genderbend version?" Historia asked.

"No..." I admitted, "I was going to have fake boobs and everything..."

"And now you're not going to get a cosplay until the next con, which is...where's my phone?" Armin patted his thighs, which of course were under a hospital gown.

"Over here." Marco picked it up off a chair where Armin's folded clothes rested, and tossed it to Armin.

"Oh the battery's dead, never mind..." Armin sighed.

"It's okay, Armin, really. I can wait till then next con. Besides, you need time to rest and catch up on school work." I pushed his bangs back and kissed is forehead, being mindful of his injury.

"If you say so..." He sighed. "But then I'm gonna make the best Black Widow and Hawkeye cosplays ever!"


	33. New Roommate

ARMIN: Finals were coming up and I had worked hard to catch up on all the work I had missed while being in a coma.

Eren helped me the best he could, and I quit my job at the café to study.

When finals arrived, I did the best I could. I knew my professors understood what I had gone through, so they would be lenient, but I wasn't lenient on myself.

Eren and I sat on a bench on campus, watching people pack up and leave campus for the summer.

"So what are you going to do all summer?" I asked him.

"I don't know, maybe look for a new job and try to find a place to live other than my dad's." He shrugged.

"You know...you could come live with me." I suggested.

"What? No, that's okay, I'll just find a place." Eren objected.

"No please, I want you to. It's no problem. My grandpa already treats you like a son-in-law. He loves you, and I love you." I pleaded.

"I love you, too." Eren answered. "If...if it's really okay, then I'll come live with you. Where would I stay?"

"In the guest room in the basement, probably. Which means you get all the video games." I punched his arm lightly.

"You can come downstairs and visit me whenever you want." He smirked, pulling me close by the waist. I blushed and suddenly found my knees interesting.

"Hey lovebirds," Marco's voice called out from in front of us. He was waving around a sheet of paper as he approached. "For my 20th birthday, I'm renting a cabin at the beach for all of us to stay at for a week. Wanna come? My birthday is June 16." He handed us the flyer.

"We'd love to," I smiled. I took a photo of the flyer and saved the date in my phone.

* * *

I finished packing up my stuff, sighed, and took a look around the room. Hopefully I'd be admitted back next year.

I dragged everything outside, where my grandpa was waiting.

"Did you have a good time here?" He asked.

"Overall, yes," I answered, climbing into the shotgun seat. "Hey Grandpa, can Eren come live with us since his dad treats him bad at home?"

"Of course," Grandpa replied, "I love Eren just as much as you do, and I'd love to provide a place for him to stay."

"Really? Thank you so much!" I threw my arms around my grandpa, squeezing him.

"Don't squeeze me too hard, we won't be able to get home otherwise." He chuckled.

* * *

The phone felt hot against my ear. "Hello?" Eren's voice sounded sweet.

"Guess what Grandpa said." I grinned.

"What?"

"You can stay here as long as you want!" I squealed.

"Wha...really?" I could feel Eren's smile through the receiver. "Armin...I don't know what to say. Thank you so much...When do you want me to move in?"

"Whenever you want. I'll clean the room up for you." I said.

"Most of my stuff is packed up right now anyway, I'll just bring what I have packed up over now." He suggested. "Is that alright?"

"Yeah, it's more than alright. I'll see you tonight." I said.

"I gotta tell my dad, though..." He faltered. "I think...I think it's time I came out to him. Will you be there? I'd like to tell him tomorrow, so will you come?"

"Of course I'll be there. I'll see you tonight." I said. "I love you."

"I love you, too. See ya."

* * *

Waiting around for Eren to arrive made my stomach flutter worse than ever. I might've actually thrown up if the doorbell hadn't rung at the moment I had started my way to the toilet.

"Eren!" I threw my arms around him, and he hugged me tightly. "The guest room is all ready for you."

"Thanks." He smiled, then he spotted my grandpa in the other room. "Archie, I don't know how to thank you..."

"No need, Eren. You've taken good care of my grandson, and I'm more than happy to have you living here." Archie replied.

"Let's go get you moved in." I grinned, taking his hand.

"I gotta get some boxes first. Can you help me?" Eren laughed.

"Oh right." I smiled.

* * *

The two of us plopped down on Eren's bed, tired of bringing in all the boxes. His hand enclosed around mine, and my cheeks warmed.

"Thank you so much, Armin." Eren murmured.

"It's no problem at all." I said, squeezing his hand. "So...do you have an idea of what you're going to tell your dad?"

"Probably the truth, that I'm in love with you and I'm living with you now." He said. "I need your support, though."

"You'll have it." I assured him. I sat up, leaning in and kissing him. He smoothed my hair with his hand.

We pulled away for a moment, gazing into each others' eyes.


	34. Coming Out of My Cage

EREN: I had a hard time driving back to my house to retrieve any last items I needed, since it would also be the time I was to come out to my dad.

Armin had his hand on my knee as I drove, assuring me.

We pulled up into my driveway, and I knocked on the door. Dad glared at me through his tiny circular lenses, and I was afraid he wouldn't let me in for a moment. But then the lock clicked and he opened the door.

"What are you doing here with him?" Dad asked.

I sighed. Might as well tell him now. "Dad...I'm moving in with Armin. You don't want me here anyway, but Armin and his kind grandpa do." I stated.

"Why? I thought you and Mikasa got married, why aren't you moving in with her?" Dad questioned.

"Because...because I married Mikasa to set her up. She and I were never back together, she tried to kill Armin. Armin was in a coma for almost a month, and Mikasa was charged with assault. She's going to be put on trial, but there's no way they can prove her innocent." I said.

"Eren, how could you do this?" Dad seemed aghast.

"Because I don't love her, Dad! Mikasa was a fucking psycho! She stalked me and tried to kill Armin! Besides, I don't love Mikasa anymore. I haven't for a while...my true love is Armin. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to retrieve the rest of my belongings so I can move in with my boyfriend." I said, storming past him. I took Armin with me in case Dad got violent with him.

We locked my bedroom door behind me, and Armin kissed my forehead. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks..." I sighed. I packed up the rest of my stuff and opened the door, meeting my dad in the hallway.

He glared at me again. He raised his hand to strike me, and I flinched, but he dropped it. "You finally did it...you finally faced all your problems head-on like a true Jäeger. I'm sorry I was such a poor father to you, but I just wanted to raise you to be resilient in any situation. But you seemed to turn out just fine. Goodbye, son."

Then my dad did something that surprised me even more than a slap could've: he took the box from my hand, set it on the floor, and hugged me.

I stood still for a moment, never having received a hug from my father ever. Reluctantly, I hugged him back.

He released me and turned to Armin. "Make my son happy." He told him.

"Yes, sir." Armin nodded.

I picked the box back up, said goodbye to my dad, and drove back to Armin's house.

* * *

My breath was hot against Armin's neck as he lay pinned against my bed. His face was flushed red and his eyes locked with mine.

"I love you..." He gasped.

"I love you, too." I murmured. "Hey Armin...do you think you and I are ready for sex?"

He gave me a slightly bewildered glance. "Now?"

"No, not now, if you don't want to." I explained. "Just...sometime."

"I...I think so." He admitted. "I trust you enough now to know you wouldn't hurt me."

"I'm glad to hear that. For now, I just like kissing you." I smiled. I dove in for his neck again, and he squealed in delight.

* * *

 **AN:** Of course the full name of this chapter was "Coming Out of My Cage (And I'm Doing Just Fine) but it didn't fit...


	35. Beach Birthday

EREN: The cold water hit me and I shivered.

"Gotcha, Jäeger!" Jean smirked, lowering his water gun.

"Try again!" I filled my water gun up and squirted a stream of water at him, hitting him in the side of his mouth. He wiped his mouth off and slapped the water, sending a small wave at me.

"Excuse me boys, but I'm going for a light swim." Historia waved at us, wading in. Ymir followed her slowly, then jumped on her and pushed her into the water.

I waved at Armin, who was sitting in the sand reading a book. He smiled and waved back at me.

"Bigger, Connie! More power! Ultimate sand fortress!" Sasha chanted, piling more sand on top of her and Connie's lumpy sandcastle.

Marco strutted onto the beach in a pink speedo that showed off way too much ass cheek. Jean whistled low and said, "Jesus, that's a lot of freckles."

"Freckled Jesus has arrived!" Marco announced.

"Praise the lord!" Sasha shouted.

Connie drew a cross over his chest.

Marco posed and blew Jean a kiss. I took this distraction to splash Jean with a huge wave of water.

"Dammit Jäeger!" Jean pushed me into the water, and all I saw was the blueness, like Armin's eyes.

* * *

"I bet I can beat you in the ring toss!" Sasha challenged Connie.

"You're on!" They raced off to the ring toss game.

I've always like carnivals, but this Boardwalk carnival was the coolest thing I'd ever seen.

"Want me to win you a stuffed animal?" Ymir smirked at Historia.

"I can win one myself," Historia protested, and they went off to find a game to play.

"What about you, Armin? Wanna play a game or go on a ride?" I asked.

"Sure, but sometimes I get sensory overloads from carnivals, so I might go back to the cabin early." He agreed.

"I'll go with you then." I offered.

"It's okay, you seemed like you wanted to stay." He shook his head.

"I want to stay with you." I insisted. He blushed and pulled me over to the chair swings.

The wind whipped through my hair and clothes as we were carried in a circle high above the boardwalk. I held my arms out, feeling like a bird cutting through the wind. Armin was in the chair ahead of me, and he looked back to see me smiling at him.

When the ride ended, our group gathered around us to drag us to the pirate ship swing ride. Connie and Sasha had a contest to see who could hold their hands up the longest, which ended up as a tie. I loved the feeling of the pit of my stomach rising and sinking. I never had much time for it, but when I had the time I was an adrenaline junkie.

After a little while, I could see Armin was getting a little dazed.

"You doing alright?" I asked him.

"Not really, can we go back now? I'm sorry I'm dragging you back to the cabin." He said.

"It's okay, we have all week. I just want to spend time with you." I said sincerely.

He looked around, seeing our group had dispersed again. "Think we can sneak off back to the cabin by ourselves?" He grinned almost mischievously and slipped his hand into mine.

I felt warmth spreading from my nose to my cheeks. "I think we can."

* * *

The cabin Marco rented only had four bedrooms, enough for each pairing to share one.

When we got back, we closed the door to the cabin and locked our bedroom door.

I pushed Armin onto the bed almost feverishly, planting kisses all over his face, jaw, and neck.

"Eren...I want to have sex with you." He huffed.

"What? Really?" I was taken aback for a second.

"Don't think I didn't see you pack the lube and condoms Marco gave you for your birthday." He smirked.

"But are you really ready?" I asked him.

"Yes, I'm sure of it." He nodded.

I reached into the bedside table, pulling out the condoms and lube. "Wait, I'm gonna go get a towel so this doesn't get everywhere." I said, getting up. I went down to the bathroom, retrieving a towel. Suddenly, the thought resonated in me: I was going to have sex with Armin.

My stomach flipped and my face reddened. I clutched the towel and ran back upstairs.


	36. Alone Time

ARMIN: I still couldn't believe the words had left my mouth: I want to have sex with you.

I couldn't tell if it was just a feverish desire or reality, but I had even hoped for it back at the carnival.

Eren stood in the doorway holding a towel. He closed and locked the door behind him. "Here, get off the bed for a second."

He threw back the blankets and laid the towel down on the sheets, and I sat back down on the towel.

"Armin, are you sure about this?" He asked.

"Yes, please stop asking me, it only makes it more embarrassing!" I begged.

"If it's embarrassing to say it, then I don't think you're ready." He decided.

"Eren...I really want to do this. I want to try at least." I grabbed his hand.

He furrowed his brow at it for a moment, then he sighed. "If you show a single sign of hesitation, I'm going to stop."

"Fine by me," I agreed, lying down.

Eren spread himself over the top of me, kissing my forehead. "Okay...let's see...we should probably start by taking our clothes off."

"O-okay."

Eren sat back on his haunches, tugging his shirt off over his head with one hand. I reached out to touch his chest, blushing as I did so. His skin was smooth and a little deeper of a shade than mine, of course I was basically the color of a sheet of paper. His hand found its way to my waist and I was pulled closer into a deep kiss.

Eren's other hand tugged on my shirt, and I broke away to slip it over my head. Of course I got caught in it for a second, and I almost cried in embarrassment. Eren was so confident with this, meanwhile I was a mess.

"Didn't you say you've had sex before?" I asked.

"Yeah, with-the bitch." He decided to call her.

"Oh..." It felt a little painful to know I wasn't his first, but I guess I'd be his first guy.

Eren's hands slid up my sides, stopping at my chest. His thumbs brushed over my nipples slightly, and I realized how sensitive they were: a squeak bubbled up from my throat as a response.

"Are you okay?" Eren asked.

"Y-yeah, just surprised..." I admitted.

Eren smiled and brushed over my nipples again, rubbing in circles with his thumbs as I responded with more squeaking. I began to respond with my crotch then, too, and blush dispersed across my face.

Eren's hand slid down the front of my chest to the button of my pants. "Can I take these off?"

"C-can you take yours off, too?" I asked.

"Sure." Eren unbuttoned and unzipped his pants first, sliding them off his legs. He also slid off his socks, which encouraged me to do the same. I don't know, I never liked the feeling of wearing socks in bed.

Then his nimble fingers undid my pants and I kicked them off with trembling legs.

Eren stamped kisses from my jaw down a trail to below my navel. He tugged on the waistband of my boxers, and I helped him pull them off. My erection sprung free once they were off, and I slapped my hands over my face.

"Do you want me to stop?" He asked.

"N-no, keep going..." My voice was muffled through my hands.

Eren's touch was gentle, but delicate enough to send my nerves begging for more. His body shifted until it lay next to me, and he removed my hands from my face.

"Look at me." He murmured.

I locked eyes with him, his gorgeous emerald green eyes with teal entrancing me. His hand sliding up and down my shaft sent shivers up my spine. "Kiss me..." I begged, pulling his head closer to mine. Our lips collided and his touch forced soft moans from the back of my throat.

I scrunched my face up as the pressure in the lowest pit of my core began to increase. His hand moved faster, becoming slicker. My sounds were muffled by Eren's mouth, my breathing labored as I gasped for air.

Suddenly Eren pulled his hand away. "Wh-why did you stop?" I asked.

"You can't finish just yet," he murmured, possibly trying to sound sexy, but his reluctant face made his statement embarrassing in a cute way.

Eren sat back again, slipping his underwear off. Of course my eyes drifted to his crotch, and I blushed at the sight of him. He must've gotten turned on by something I'd done, since his length was erect now.

"Uhh...n-nice..." I stammered, slapping my hand over my face again.

He snorted, laughing out loud. "S-sorry, I just didn't expect you to say anything about it. Thanks."

"You're welcome...?" I offered. "Wh-what do I do now?"

Eren looked over to the bedside table, opening the drawer and pulling out the string of condoms and the lube.

"Okay, so, don't laugh but, I've done a ton of research on this...I'm supposed to stick my fingers in your butt, right?" He asked.

Hearing it out loud made my ears burn. "Y-yeah..."

"Okay. Can you kind of bend one of your knees and hold your leg close to your body?" He instructed me.

I bent my knee and pulled my leg close to me, holding it in place. I was aware Eren could see everything this way, and my face felt like it was on fire.

Eren flipped open the cap of the lube bottle and squirted some in his hand. He slathered it over his finger, and held one up. "I'll start with one and work my way to three, okay?"

I nodded.

Eren pressed his finger to my opening and slid it in slowly. All I felt was kind of a slick coolness inside me, wiggling around and pressing against my sensitive spot.

"Don't clench, don't clench, don't clench!" Eren said rapidly.

"S-sorry..." I mumbled, trying to relax. My stomach did cartwheels and I couldn't focus on anything, not even my breathing.

Eren slid his finger out and applied more lube. "Okay, here's two."

There was a slight pinching feeling with two, but it still wasn't painful. Eren pressed hard against the sensitive spot, sending waves of pleasure through me.

"Okay, ready for three?" He asked, squirting more lube on his fingers.

"I think so, it hasn't hurt yet..." I said.

Eren slid his fingers in, and the pinching feeling returned sharper.

"Ow, ow..." I hissed, trying not to tense up to make the pain worse.

"Shh, it's okay," he murmured, leaning forward and kissing my cheek. His other hand was on my shin, keeping my leg up. He wiggled his fingers around more, until the pain subsided. "Ready for the real thing now?"

"Y-yeah." I said breathily.

Eren ripped one of the condoms off the strip, tearing the wrapper open and unrolling it. He squeezed a couple of drops of lube into the condom to make it easier to slip on, and he slid it over his length. Then, he coated the outside with lube and spread himself over the top of me. I wrapped my legs around him.

"Ready?" He whispered.

"Yes..." I murmured, locking eyes with him.

He pressed the tip to my butt, and my stomach started roiling faster.

"W-wait, I'm scared..." I placed my hand on his shoulder.

"Do you want to stop completely?" He asked.

"N-no, I'm just nervous..." I mumble.

"Just concentrate on me, okay? Make sure you're breathing steady. I love you, Armin." He murmured.

"I love you, too. O-okay, I'm ready." I nodded.

He pressed into my butt again, this time pushing harder. The pinching was much more intense now, and I'm not sure he had put enough lube on himself.

"Aaaah...careful..." I croaked, my head spinning. Eren leaned in and pressed his lips to mine, the feeling calming me slightly. I felt something flat against my ass, and I realized it was his hips. My stomach squirmed.

"I'm all in..." He mumbled. "Can I move?"

"B-be careful..." I warned.

"I will." He pulled his hips back slowly, drawing himself all the way out, before pushing himself all the way back in.

I let out a groan, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"You doing okay?" He sighed.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Does it feel good for you?" I wonder.

"I'm used to wearing condoms." He assured me. He pulled back again, pushing himself in faster this time. He continued this, but as he sped up, he stopped pulling out so much.

My breaths were shallow and my face felt like it was melting. Eren kissed my jaw and my neck. I closed my eyes and moaned softly. Eren huffed with each movement.

The pressure built up in my core again slowly, and my legs slipped on Eren's back.

His hand traveled down my chest and wrapped around my dick again, stroking it softly. The pressure built up faster, and I bit my lip.

"Armin..." He whispered softly, licking the space behind my ear.

"Eren..." I breathed back, tilting my head.

The room was quiet except for our breathing and other noises. I pressed my lips to Eren's and he slipped his tongue into my mouth, muffling my sounds.

My head was spinning and I was nearly slipping out of reality. My core twisted and I squirmed as I came closer to finishing. I let one of my arms fall and Eren slipped his hand into mine.

Suddenly the pressure shot through the rest of my body in electric shocks, arching my back as I covered us in warm sticky white goo. "E-Eren!" I shouted.

"A-Armin!" Eren squeezed my hand and his face scrunched up, then relaxed as he melted. His eyes rolled up to the ceiling and he closed them. He slumped down to me, pulling himself out all the way. He stroked my cheek gently and kissed my forehead.

My chest heaved, and I closed my eyes blissfully. Eren peeled the condom off and snuggled close to me. He pulled the towel out from under me, wiping the goo off us. He threw the towel onto the floor and it landed with a thud.

"Pull the covers up," I mumbled sleepily.

He reached for them, draping them over the both of us.

Before I fell asleep, I heard whispering outside the door.

"Do you think they did it?" Historia's voice whispered eagerly.

"I think so, keep it down! They're probably tired out." Marco hissed.

A smile spread across my lips as I cuddled into Eren's chest.


	37. Full Circle (Or Sphere)

EREN: The ocean waves lapped against the shore as the sun set.

Armin squeezed my hand, and I squeezed his back.

"Oh, I almost forgot about this." I dug into my pocket and pulled out the ring Mikasa gave me during our fake wedding.

"Why did you bring that?" Armin wondered.

"So I could do this," I whipped the ring into the ocean, and it plunked under the surface. "There, it's gone forever now."

I turned to face him, and he turned to me. "I love you."

"I love you, too. Everything's gonna be okay from now on, right?"

"Yes."

I grabbed him by the waist and pulled him in for a passionate kiss.

"Hey lovebirds, aren't you gonna go out dancing with us?" Jean called out from the boardwalk.

"Come on, we gotta live up our last day here before we go back to the boring town!" Marco agreed.

I pulled away from Armin and we faced our friends waiting for us.

"We're coming!" I let my arms fall from Armin's side. "I'll race ya there." I sped off, and he shouted, "No fair, you're cheating!"

I looked back at him as I dashed to the boardwalk, the last rays of the sunset shining in his hair like a crown of sunlight.

* * *

"Eren, did you get the mail?" Armin called from his room.

"Yeah, and there's a package addressed to you." I shouted back at him.

His footsteps thudded down the hall as he met with me.

"Open it up." He said eagerly.

I retrieved a knife from the drawer and sliced the box open, and inside was another box. There was a warning on this one not to use a knife, which I found a little strange. Armin carefully picked off the tape and opened the box. Inside were two large tan spheres, and I poked one. The sphere felt like jelly under my finger.

"Oh my God...are these my fake Black Widow boobs?" I gasped.

"Yeah, try them on," Armin teased.

I grabbed them both, shoving them up my shirt. "How do they look?" I smirked.

Armin was too busy laughing his ass off to answer.

"I am Black Widow and I will-"

"What's going on in here?" Archie asked.

We froze, and my fake boobs slipped out of my shirt and fell on the floor, bouncing twice before rolling away in different directions.

"Just cosplay stuff," Armin said. "We're gonna have the best cosplay at Hikari Con!"

"All thanks to the best cosplay partner ever," I threw my arm around him, and I kissed his cheek.

"I think you mean cosplay husband." Armin corrected me.

"Right, because we're practically married now." I agreed.

"Come on, help me work on your costume." He picked up the fake boobs and I followed him to his room. Music was blasting from the mini Bluetooth speaker I had bought him for Christmas.

He set the spheres down on the floor, but Bean jumped down from his dresser and batted one under the bed.

"Bean! Goddammit..." He muttered, crawling on all fours to reach under his bed. I took this as an opportunity to stare at his butt.

"Hey, look what I found," he said, pulling out a sheet of paper instead of the sphere.

"What is it?" I asked.

He showed it to me: it was one of the flyers he had posted that had led to our fateful encounter.

I looked at him with a confused expression.

He smiled at me and said, "I guess it wasn't such a stupid idea after all."

* * *

 **AN:** Thanks for reading this, I hope you liked it. I love you guys! I might include a bonus chapter for this so look out for updates.


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